Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat, is shown walking past protesters on Saturday, where it seems the alleged spitting incident he says occurred. Questions remain, however, whether or not the spitting was a result of intense yelling and spitting happened by accident or if the spitter in question intentionally spit on the lawmaker. (h/t hotairpundit)
Ultimately, Mr. Cleaver could not identify the individual who spit on him and did not press charges. Fox News reported:
Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, spokeswoman for the Capitol Police, told FoxNews.com the individual was released because Cleaver couldn’t identify him.
“There were no elements of a crime, and the individual wasn’t able to be positively identified,” she said. “(Cleaver) was unable to positively identify.”
Asked about the Capitol Police account, Petrovic said it’s not that Cleaver couldn’t identify the suspect. It’s that he wouldn’t identify the suspect, because the police would have been “obligated” to make an arrest, which he didn’t want.
“He was aware of that obligation and so did not make an identification,” she said. “He saw who did it and he could have identified that person if necessary. But he chose not to.”
As for the initial claim that the the individual was arrested, Petrovic said staff members mistakenly presumed he had been arrested because he was in handcuffs.
