He tackled Lee Zeldin's attacker. What he saw and heard is more complicated than it seems

Lee Zeldin was nearing the end of his speech in front of the Perinton VFW Post 8495 at about 8 p.m. Thursday, when Joe Chenelly — the rally’s emcee and the man who had called the candidate to the stage — noticed something.

Zeldin, the Republican and Conservative nominee for governor, stood on the trailer-turned-stage, between giant bales of hay wrapped in red, white and blue, in front of a phalanx of flags, a tank as a backdrop.

“We’re fighting for our government,” Zeldin said.

The crowd of about 300 whooped. Many held their phones aloft to capture the moment.

That's when Chenelly, the Republican candidate for the New York State Assembly’s 135th District who lives in Perinton, saw the man in the ballcap stumble forward.

“People are leaving the state because they look at Florida, Texas, Tennessee and the Carolinas. Their money’s going further there.”

Zeldin was in Monroe County, starting a campaign swing that would take his “Unite to Fire Hochul” bus tour to a dozen stops over four days. His running mate, Alison Esposito, a former member of the NYPD, had already spoken. Zeldin was about 15 minutes into his stump speech, firing up the crowd.

“They’re feeling safer there.”

Chenelly watched the man in the ballcap, now at the edge of the stage. There were others standing at the edge of the stage, too; Chenelly thought the man just wanted a closer look at the candidate.

But then the man pulled himself up on the stage, behind Zeldin, to the candidate’s right. Chenelly and Esposito were soon on the stage, too, but on the wrong side of the hay bales. A former Marine, Chenelly said he wasn’t sure what the man wanted — a handshake, a hug or to do Zeldin harm — but he was sure the hay bales were in the way and he couldn’t get to the man before he got to Zeldin.

“They’re living life freer in these other states.”

Chenelly watched for a second.

“You’re still here. And this is our last stand for New York.”

The man in the ballcap was now beside the candidate. And things were going south in a hurry. Almost in slow motion, he put his left hand on Zeldin’s right arm and tried to raise his right hand toward Zeldin’s face.

“It was clear he was there to disrupt him at first and he was in Lee's face and I couldn't see his right hand, but it came up quickly and appeared to be like a two-pronged blade that his fingers were actually in,” Chenelly said Friday. “It's kind of like brass knuckles, but with these two prongs on the end.”

“You’re done,” the man in the ballcap said to Zeldin, but by that time Chenelly, a onetime wrestler at Fairport High School, had wrapped his arms around him in a bear hug and took him to the ground.

Related:Man charged after attack on Lee Zeldin

Chenelly, also a former Marine, wasn’t alone. Esposito’s NYPD training kicked in, too, and she and Chenelly lunged at the man in the ballcap. In seconds, the man, Esposito, Chenelly and Zeldin were on the stage floor as the crowd watched, aghast.

There was a struggle.

“I'm conscious of this blade that's in his hand and I'm holding the wrist of that hand,” Chenelly said. “As a former wrestler and Marine myself, I know it's not too hard to break a wrist hold. I'm concerned he's going to break a wrist hold and I'm going to get a cut-up arm or something. I'm trying to apply a little bit of pressure to his wrist, telling him to drop whatever you have there.”

'He's got a gun' — but not

Chenelly knew he had company.

“He's kind of a big guy. I peek over and there's Alison Esposito, the lieutenant governor candidate and retired NYPD. I got this surge of confidence, like: 'Oh, good. I know she knows what she's doing over there.' So her and I kind of talked back and forth and I stabilized his wrist. She was able to get the blade away from him and she did cut her hand while she was doing that.”

Then, he said, someone yelled “He’s got a gun!” — which turned out to be untrue — but it did rachet up the tension momentarily. His mind already racing, a different worry came to Chenelly, about a good guy with a gun, as a woman in the crowd was heard shouting “2A!” invoking the Second Amendment.

“I was actually concerned that if he had a gun, someone in front of us might engage with him and I'm right behind him,” he said. “A lot of things go through your head at once and fortunately he didn't have any firearm and everybody acted in a cool, calm way.”

The struggle continued, and was joined by several others.

“He wasn't giving up and it was very clear he wasn't in his right state of mind,” Chenelly said.

There was no police presence at the rally, but having subdued the man in the ballcap, Chenelly said he looped together zipties that were on hand to hang a banner and made impromptu handcuffs, tying the man’s hands behind his back. Five minutes later, he said, “a parade of police officers and deputy sheriffs came in.”

After he was taken away, Zeldin returned to the stage and drew relieved laughter from the crowd when he began: “So as I was saying.” He then closed his speech, saying that the night’s events served as a reminder “to back our men and women in blue.” The election, he said, was about laws that “have made our streets less safe.”

“This was a speech tonight where we are focusing on rising crime,” he said, “and as we saw play out here tonight, the stakes couldn’t possibly be any higher.”

Interviews and reflection

Soon Zeldin would get on his bus and move on.

Chenelly would be interviewed by deputies, and then by all sorts of national media. After going to bed at about 2:30 a.m., Friday, he was back up at 5 a.m. to speak on Fox News. He also spoke with the New York Post, CNN and all sorts of local media outlets in Rochester.

He told one reporter: "I did not know I still had it in me, that's for sure. It's been a long time since I've had that kind of adrenaline."

Between interviews, he said, he reflected on the events that took place at about 8 p.m. on a hot summer Thursday.

The man in the ballcap, identified as 43-year-old David G. Jakubonis, of Fairport, was charged with attempted assault in the second degree, arraigned in Perinton Town Court and released on his own recognizance, the sheriff’s department said.

About David Jakubonis

According to a 2009 notice in the Democrat & Chronicle: “Army Pfc. David Jakubonis, son of Diana and Gediminas Jakubonis of Perinton and a graduate of McQuaid Jesuit High School, was at Fort McCoy in Sparta, Wis., and deployed overseas in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is a medical laboratory technician.”

Five years later, he graduated with a bachelor of science in criminal justice from the Rochester Institute of Technology, according to a release on local graduates. He was on the dean’s list.

On Friday, Deputy Brendan Hurley, of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, issued a media release which included the following:

• Jakubonis was not held because the attempted assault in the second degree charge does not qualify for bail to be set.

• Jakubonis showed signs of intoxication and said he had been drinking, but he was not tested.

• His home was searched, but no guns were found.

• The weapon he allegedly used was described as a "black hardened plastic keychain with two sharp points designed for self-defense."

• More charges are possible. The FBI is considering federal charges.

• Jakubonis returns to court Aug. 30.

"To me, it was clear he was having some serious issues at this moment," Chenelly said. "To do something like this in front of 300 people and a livestream. It's extreme. He was in custody for less than 2 hours. I'm obviously tied in with local government officials and have been told the judge had no discretion on this. I would have thought at least a mental-health hold, but I don't know."

Zeldin has made cashless bail reforms a key pillar of his campaign, decrying them as contributing to rising crime. And Chenelly said he agrees.

"There were changes made in New York law with good intentions, but they've broken the system and it's taken discretion away from our judges," Chenelly said. "Now we have dangerous people who are released right back to their own recognizance."

'You're going to be able to contact me'

But there was something he heard and something he saw that touched Chenelly's heart in a complicated way, something that touches on what he does for a living. He's the national executive director of AmVets, a veterans service organization.

During much of the scuffle on the stage, the only thing Chenelly could hear Jakubonis say clearly was "You're done." Everything else, he said, sounding like moaning and jibberish.

But as he was brought to his feet, he looked at Chenelly and said: "I served in the Iraq War."

"I'm a veterans advocate," said Chenelly, a former journalist. "It's suddenly like, 'Wait a second, this guy actually needs help, too.' I just spent the last 5 minutes hoping and praying I could hold him. And you can see on the video I drop down, my hands on my knees."

He then said in his head what he'd like to say to the man with whom he'd just be struggling: 'You've done something really serious here, tonight. You're going to have to deal with this. But after you start dealing with this, we're going to make sure you get the help you need. You're going to be able to contact me. We're going to get you the help you need.'"

His reaction surprised him.

"I may be making some incorrect conclusions or assumptions about this, but I don't think he was drunk. I think he was having some type of mental health crisis — and the crisis is very real. I was thinking back on it, it was a little shocking to me that that was my reaction, but that was just the moment."

Within hours, Chenelly said he had already reached out to the county's veteran services, to talk about the man in the ballcap.

The ballcap that read: Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Peter D. Kramer is a 34-year staffer. Reach him at pkramer@gannett.com or on Twitter @peterkramer. Local reporting like Pete's only exists because of subscribers. Support local journalism at www.democratandchronicle.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on New York State Team: He introduced Lee Zeldin at the rally and then leaped to protect him