The daughter of an Illinois state representative, as well as a campaign volunteer, are both facing charges after allegedly attacking the lawmaker’s opponent with a staple gun earlier this month, The Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday.
Jessica Soto, the daughter of state Rep. Cynthia Soto (D), and Bradley Fichter allegedly attacked failed House candidate Robert Zwolinksi outside his campaign office on March 6, according to the report. Zwolinski told the newspaper that Fichter held Zwolinski down while Soto stapled his head and screamed “this isn’t your territory.”
Police say the two assailants also hit Zwolinski with a bottle, according to the report.
“My common sense intuition said no way it would be her daughter because that in itself sounds so extreme,” Zwolinski told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Before going to the hospital and having his wounds treated, Zwolinski decided to hold a news conference and snap a picture to post Twitter, calling politics a “contact sport.” The image is graphic:
Politics is a contact sport. Apparently that’s literally the case. pic.twitter.com/wIlFIP366W
— Robert Zwolinski (@BobZ_Chicago4th) March 7, 2016
Soto and Fichter were taken into custody Wednesday and charged with three felony counts of aggravated battery each, while Fichter faces an additional charge of filing a false police report, according to the Sun-Times.
Zwolinski ultimately lost his bid for the state House seat, but is now calling on Cynthia Soto to resign that seat.
“My wounds will heal a lot faster than the ones she’s inflicted on our state,” he said in a press conference.
Fichter and Soto were scheduled to appear in bond court Friday.
WTF was she and he thinking and how is her mom going to walk that back?
This seems a tad contrived.
…and from what I’m getting from the article it was…after the campaign was over?
The only way she could “walk it back” is to have her daughter committed. No thought took place in this attack just pure adrenaline fueled hate. I mean, if she had thought about it, she’d have realized her mother’s opponent LOST and that her mother would now be on the hot seat for the attack so bad idea all around.
That’s totally fucked up. Plain and simple. Period. I hope they do time.
I mean, I read the headline and expected “meh, silly childish prank type thing,” but then I saw the photo and he was clearly quite injured and from more than the staplegun. There’s just no room for tolerance of this type of shit.