Strong feelings about Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency spilled over from a verbal conflict on social media to physical violence in real life.
A male student at St. John’s University in the New York City borough of Queens threatened to smash a female classmate’s laptop because she had a sticker on it supporting Donald Trump.
“7000 retweets and i'll smash this b----’s computer,” Clifford Durand wrote on Twitter. The tweet ultimately received over 15,000 retweets.
The girl and the @StJohnsU student later saw each other and fought over the photo: https://t.co/apfXamkja7 pic.twitter.com/ew22ppqx8u
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) February 10, 2016
Later, the two met each other in the hallway, when the female student asked Durand to take down the tweet. Durand refused, and punched her in the neck after the female student allegedly threw her drink at him, NY Daily News reports.
The incident was reported to St. John’s University’s social media accounts, which released a statement saying, “this type of behavior will not be tolerated,” and that its office of public safety was “handling the situation.”
A video was later tweeted showing Durand apparently leaving from an administrative office at the school, with his friend commenting “they can’t hold you bro.”
St. John’s University has been inundated with negative comments on social media for their handling of the incident, and many people are giving the school a one-star rating on its Facebook page.
“A young lady today was threatened and harassed by black lives matter activists on your campus, as well as on Twitter for her political views,” wrote Shaun Shook on the school’s Facebook page. “I believe this is highly unacceptable, disturbing, and hopefully not encouraged or enabled by St. Johns University. Appropriate action must be taken to protect the rights and safety of this young woman.”
