Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, have made news for spread the dehumanizing yet entirely false claim that Haitian immigrants have been stealing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Now, the Haitian group that filed charges against the pair last month have added felony to the list.
The original charges, which were filed in Clark County Municipal Court by Guerline Joseph on behalf of the national nonprofit, included disrupting public service, making false alarms, committing telecommunications harassment, committing aggravated menacing in violation, committing aggravated menacing and violating the prohibition against complicity.
The new requested charge is inducing panic, as reported by the Springfield News-Sun. It hails from Trump and Vance making up lies about Haitians immigrants “with full knowledge the claims were false,” per the amended affidavit.
It also says that the men knew their words “were calculated to stir alarm and emotional distress in the community.”
The Haitian Bridge Alliance also requested that the court find probable cause for the charges and issue arrest warrants for Trump and Vance. The update filing explains that Trump and Vance cannot use free speech as a defense, since their behavior severely disrupted public service.
“Despite seeing that Springfield was suffering from repeated bomb threats, evacuations, hospital lockdowns, necessity of state-trooper deployment, and closures of government buildings, they continued to double, triple, and quadruple down on their false claims,” the affidavit read.
“The chaos caused was the purpose, and the First Amendment affords no protection for that campaign of criminal conduct.”
Per Ohio law, a private citizen desiring to “cause an arrest or prosecution” can file an affidavit with “a reviewing official.” The official can include a judge, prosecuting attorney or magistrate, who would be responsible for reviewing the material and ultimately decide if a complaint should be filed.