Erin Hawley, the wife of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), filed a criminal complaint against one of the people who organized a January 4 protest at the Hawley home in Vienna, Virginia, according to ABC News. The document says demonstrators acted in ways that frightened her.
The move follows reports that police said the group was peaceful, but did break some laws, including those which prohibit picketing outside a home, littering, and making noise.
Contrary to the police description, Erin Hawley construed the group’s behavior as sinister.
“[T]he doorbell rang, and from downstairs, I could hear loud noises at the door: knocking, stomping, shouting, or some combination,” she wrote in a statement. “I went upstairs to see what was happening . . . [t]he protestors were screaming with bullhorns and shouting ‘Come out, come out!’ I was frightened.”
Josh Hawley and the couple’s two sons were in Missouri when protesters in Virginia went to the Vienna home. Erin Hawley was at the residence with her and the senator’s daughter.
The protesters were opposing the senator’s objection to various electoral college results for the 2020 presidential election.
The criminal complaint in question is directed at activist Patrick Young, an organizer for ShutdownDC. Police said a judge found probable cause for picketing or disrupting tranquility of a home.
Young told ABC as of Friday morning that he had heard nothing about a complaint.
“If a summons has been issued, it is outrageous that a rich and powerful person — a United States senator — can go to their magistrate to get a summons to harass a normal person,” he said in a statement.
Sen. Hawley has asserted that the protesters threatened his wife and newborn daughter.
“Tonight while I was in Missouri, Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can’t travel,” he wrote on January 4. “They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door. Let me be clear: My family & I will not be intimidated by leftwing violence.”
No arrests were made at the time. Cops described no substantial wrongdoing. Master Police Officer Juan Vazquez, serving as spokesman for the Town of Vienna Police Department, told The Associated Press in a January 5 report that protesters left when officers explained the violations.
“There were no issues, no arrests,” he said. “We didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”
[Image via BILL O’LEARY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]
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