Florida Man Arrested After Allegedly Spitting on Man Wearing MAGA Hat

A 43-year-old man was arrested after allegedly spitting on a 67-year-old man wearing a “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hat at a restaurant in Vero Beach, Florida, on October 25, local media and police said.

Surveillance footage released by the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office shows Robert Youngblood, wearing a red MAGA hat, sitting with two other men at a bar in a Hurricane Grill & Wings restaurant. The footage shows a man walk past the group and hit the brim of Youngblood’s hat. Police said the footage then shows the same man lean over a railing, spit on Youngblood, and leave.

Before the man slapped Youngblood’s hat, he told him, “You should go back to Russia, you f—-ing communist,” according to a police report.

The report said Youngblood took down the license plate of the car the suspect left in, leading police to a Vero Beach address for Laura Torres. When police visited the address, they said they spoke with Torres and her husband, 43-year-old Matthias Ajple.

Torres said she told Ajple to tell Youngblood to “go back to Russia as a joke,” and then told police she did not see the altercation, according to the police report.

Ajple told police he “supports” law enforcement and said Donald Trump supporters are “communist and racist,” according to the report.

“I don’t even care that I’m going to jail, this is actually exciting, plus I have more time on this earth than he does anyway, he probably feels so good about himself,” Ajple is quoted as saying in the report.

Ajple was charged with battery and taken to the Indian River County Jail, according to police. Credit: Indian River County Sheriff’s Office via Storyful