CLEVELAND — Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, stated he was “run off the highway” Thursday morning in a Cleveland suburb by a person who waved a Palestinian flag and threatened Miller and his younger daughter.
The incident, which comes amid acute considerations about an increase in political violence, is being investigated by the U.S. Capitol Police and by police in Rocky River, Ohio.
A suspect, Feras S. Hamdan of Westlake, Ohio, turned himself in to Rocky River police after Miller signed a prison grievance for aggravated menacing and an arrest warrant was issued, Rocky River officers stated. Hamdan’s lawyer didn’t instantly reply to a message.
“I used to be simply driving to work, and I used to be reduce off by a person in a Tesla who held up a Palestinian flag to me, after which rolled down his window and stated that ‘I’m going to chop your throat and your daughter’s,” Miller, who’s Jewish, is heard saying on a 9111 name, audio of which the Rocky River Police Division launched together with a press release Friday. “And he stated, ‘You’re a grimy Jew. I’m going to f—ing kill you all, and I do know who you’re and the place you reside.’”
Miller, 36, advised 911 dispatchers that he adopted the person on Interstate 90 and rolled down his window to higher hear what he was saying and to pay attention to his license plate quantity.
“I’m slightly shaken, to be fairly sincere,” Miller advised a dispatcher in Lakewood, the neighboring suburb the place Miller exited the interstate. “I’ve a weapon on me. I’m glad I didn’t use it.”
Throughout one stretch of Miller’s 9111 name, a car’s horn may be heard honking — a element that the dispatcher famous to police officers for his or her report.
The police report additionally famous that whereas officers searched the interstate for a “flag which will have been thrown out” of the suspect’s automobile, no flag was positioned there.
Julie Morron, operations supervisor for the Rocky River Police Division, stated a flag has but to be discovered however that the investigation is ongoing.
Miller publicly commented on the incident Thursday in a video accompanying a social media submit during which he expressed reduction that his daughter, who’s 1, was not within the automobile with him.
A police report was not obtainable to the general public within the fast hours after Thursday’s incident, with officers ready to assemble extra particulars earlier than releasing paperwork Friday. Morron advised NBC Information on Thursday that Miller had been the alleged sufferer of a “highway rage incident” and “couldn’t wait to talk with officers” however agreed to later within the day. The suspect’s automobile additionally had left the world by the point native officers responded, police stated.
In his video, Miller stated that he had “gone about my day” and “carried on” with scheduled conferences. In a textual content message late Thursday, Miller wrote that he wished to maintain to his “set schedule of conferences” to “ship a message” that his work wouldn’t be slowed by the incident.
Miller was later interviewed by police in Rocky River, in keeping with the division’s assertion.
“After additional investigation, the second occasion to the highway rage incident was recognized” as Hamdan, the division stated. Hamdan is awaiting a courtroom look.
Rocky River officers are investigating the incident, together with Capitol Police, the FBI, the Ohio State Freeway Patrol, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Northern District of Ohio, Rocky River police stated.
In a press release Friday, Capitol Police stated the division instantly deployed particular brokers to the world to help within the investigation and to find Hamdan.
“In lower than 24 hours, the USCP acquired notification of a risk towards a Member of Congress, had boots on the bottom, collaborated with the native police division, and the suspect within the case was arrested that very same night,” performing Capitol Police chief Sean Gallagher stated the assertion. “This case is a main instance of the USCP’s stance in the direction of threats towards our elected officers. We are going to proceed to have a zero-tolerance coverage.”
The alleged incident occurred about 10 miles west of Cleveland and got here lower than every week after two Democratic state lawmakers had been shot — one fatally — in what authorities have described as a politically motivated assault in Minnesota.
“In case you have a difficulty with a legislator, your metropolis councilman, your mayor, anybody like that, the suitable factor to do is to achieve out to them for a telephone name, to arrange a gathering at one in every of our district places of work,” Miller stated in his video. “What isn’t OK is to assault anybody, whether or not you’re a member of Congress or anyone else inside our district, whilst you’re driving to work.”
Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in a social media submit Thursday that the incident “is yet one more outrageous instance of unhinged rhetoric inspiring unstable individuals to threaten and assault elected officers who’re serving their communities.”
Johnson added: “We should flip down the temperature on this nation.”
Home Democratic leaders additionally condemned the incident.
“We condemn within the strongest attainable phrases the assault on Congressman Max Miller and his household and are grateful they’re secure,” Home Democratic Chief Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California stated Thursday in a joint assertion. “The rise in political violence on this nation is unacceptable. This can be a second of disaster that requires Congress to behave decisively with a view to guarantee the security of each single Member who serves within the Folks’s Home.”
