Rantz: Conservative college student harassed, stalked by Seattle activist
Apr 16, 2019, 5:56 AM | Updated: 6:42 am
(City of Seattle)
A conservative college student said she was harassed and stalked by an unhinged Seattle student activist who was mad she held views he disagreed with. After confronting her many times on campus, he allegedly tried to run her over, or intimidate her, in a parking lot. Now, the police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.
Katie Daviscourt is a student at South Seattle College and is the chair of their chapter of Turning Point USA, a conservative student organization. She and another student hosted a table on campus to alert classmates of their message last Thursday. This angered a man, who police have not yet identified.
“He started vandalizing our table and trying to take the posters off,” Daviscourt told the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “And the second he takes the ‘Big Government Sucks’ sign, I let him know, ‘sir that is actually my own personal property and stealing the ‘Big Government Sucks’ sign or taking it down can get you arrested.’ And that seemed to trigger him like no end because he ends up taking the sign and he runs out the building…”
She followed him, and after a brief confrontation, he returned the sign. But the harassment didn’t end there, with the man returning three more times to badger Daviscourt over her political opinions. He finally left, but he wasn’t done with his intimidation. When Daviscourt went to her car in the student parking lot, she says he was there waiting for her.
“All of a sudden this car comes flying at me and I’m going ‘oh wow what is going on, that car almost hit me’ and as he’s turning the corner, he is in his vehicle staring me down. I go ‘oh my God, that guy is coming for me,’” Daviscourt says.
What happens next is remarkably concerning: “All of a sudden, I hear a car come speeding at me, at full speed behind, me slamming on the brakes and taking a sharp right turn and I turn around it’s him again staring me down. And at that point I know I have an issue and this guy is either trying to run me over as a pedestrian or instill fear that he’s running me over.”
At that point, Daviscourt hides between cars in the lot to call police.
“And then I start running because the second he catches a glimpse of me he gunned his vehicle down the parking lot and I feel really bad because he ended up running into this young woman’s vehicle,” Daviscourt recounts. “She was taking a right turn and then hit and run. He fled the scene and that’s the last I’ve heard anything I’ve heard anything from police. Nothing.”
Much of the incident was caught on surveillance cameras and the Seattle Police Department confirmed Monday that it was an open case. They have a license plate of the car and a clear image that the victim took of the suspect.
Daviscourt believes he’s a student, and even says he came back to campus today, as if nothing happened. She said in an email that “Campus security gave him emergency suspension papers and escorted him off campus.”
But they won’t tell her his name, which makes filing a restraining order against him problematic.
“You know I’m trying to put on a brave face for media, but I actually have really bad PTSD from it and it’s very nerve-wracking that he’s still out there because he knows my car and I don’t know … he’s crazy.”
This is one in yet another series of violent and aggressive behavior exhibited towards campus conservatives. Just last week, prominent conservative speaker from the Daily Wire, Michael Knowles, was attacked by a campus protester at a campus in Kansas City. Ironically, this occurred a few hours after my conversation with University of Washington College Republican president Chevy Swanson, where he said they were moving forward with more campus events, even though they’ve seen an uptick in aggressive posturing towards their club.
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