JACKSONVILLE, Fla. The man who is accused of deliberately driving his van into a tent where voters were being registered by local Republicans told the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office his disapproval of President Donald Trump was a motivating factor, according to an unredacted arrest report obtained by News4Jax.
Gregory Timm, 27, was arrested hours after police said his van plowed through the tent, narrowly missing volunteers who were set up the parking lot of a Walmart Superstore at the corner of Atlantic and Kernan boulevards about 3:50 p.m. on Saturday. Hes accused of two counts of aggravated assault on a person over 65 years old, criminal mischief and driving without a license.
According to JSO investigators who tracked him down, Timm admitted to purposefully driving into the tent because someone had to take a stand. Timm told investigators he saw the registration tent after he went to pick up food and cigarettes at Walmart, according to JSO. He then showed investigators a video he recorded while driving towards the tent, according to JSO, but the video cut out before he hit the tent. According to the report, Timm said he was upset that the video ended before the good part.
Timm said he waited until there were no people in front of the tent before he ran it over although, JSO investigators noted in the report, the video showed people still standing there. Witnesses said he flipped off the people near the tent before driving away. The suspect told investigators he does not like President Trump and that was part of the reason he wanted to run over the tent, according to the arrest report. While JSO didnt immediately say if the action was politically motivated, the incident was quickly condemned as a political attack by both Republican and Democratic leaders in Jacksonville, Floridas two U.S. Senators, and even President Donald Trump.