"This is a terrorist attack against the LGBT community," (Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis quickly asserted after a pickup truck plowed into spectators prior to the start of the City’s Stonewall Pride Parade yesterday.
"This is exactly what it is. Hardly an accident. It was deliberate, it was premeditated, and it was targeted against a specific person. Luckily they missed that person, but unfortunately, they hit two other people."
Well, no. That is not what happened.
The Gay Men Chorus’ President Justin Knight later confirmed in a statement that the driver of the truck was, in fact, a member of their group and hardly committing an attack. The driver, 77
years old and unable to March in the parade, got his foot stuck on the truck accelerator.
Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the tragic accident that occurred when the Stonewall Pride Parade was just getting started," Knight wrote. "Our fellow Chorus members were those injured and the driver was also a part of the Chorus family.
It turns out the driver knew both men who were hit. All three were members of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus according to the Florida Sun Sentinel.
But that didn’t stop the left from playing up the discredited “ terrorist attack”.
New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman and liberal writer Lesley Abravanel posted and retweeted statements implying the truck was part of "domestic terrorism."
Abravanel notably tweeted further
the toxic environment created by the laws of a bigot like @GovRonDeSantis & the encouragement of Trump’s terror fueled Turd Reich regime & #GQP made it entirely plausible.
The Police Department officially released a statement on Sunday confirming that the incident
was a tragic accident and "not a criminal act directed at anyone, or group of individuals.
In a later statement, the mayor doesn't address or retract his initial comments.
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