Throwing White Claw at Ted Cruz was ‘stupid, good fun,’ not malicious: Lawyer
Ryan King
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Throwing a White Claw at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during a Houston Astros’ World Series parade earlier this week was “stupid, good fun” by an Astros fan not intended to harm the senator, according to his lawyer.
Joey Arcidiacono, 33, who was arrested shortly after the incident, flung the hard seltzer at the Lone Star State senator and says it was in a celebratory act, unaware that the move would be interpreted as a security threat.
TED CRUZ HIT BY FLYING BEER CAN AT ASTROS WORLD SERIES PARADE
“Political violence is never acceptable. What happened at the parade was not political violence nor ‘aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,'” Arcidiacono’s lawyer Bill Stradley declared in a statement. “Fans throw cans to people in championship parades all the time. That is a widely known thing. To get them to chug.”
“That was stupid, good fun. This ended up as not fun,” he added.
The flying can struck Cruz in the “chest/neck area,” and he did not require medical attention, according to Houston Police. Footage of the senator trying to deflect the flying brew buzzed on social media.
“As always I’m thankful for the Houston Police and Capitol Police for their quick action. I’m also thankful that the clown who threw his White Claw had a noodle for an arm,” Cruz responded on Twitter over a quote tweet of a video clip from the encounter.
https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1589758574078570496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1589758574078570496%7Ctwgr%5Ea47415afc7643bdcae47720078182abfa3bd5b9f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fpolice-arrest-man-throwing-beer-can-cruz
Arcidiacono “apologizes for how his actions alarmed Senator Cruz, his family, and his security detail and put a damper on an otherwise beautiful celebration,” his lawyer continued.
On the eve of the parade, Arcidiacono mused about throwing a brew at an Astros player during the parade, his lawyer said.
“My dream would be to throw one of the players a beer. Doubt it would happen haha but that would be epic,” Arcidiacono texted a friend the night before throwing the can at Cruz, per his lawyer.
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Stradley, who described Arcidiacono as an “Astros fan,” pointed to Astros pitcher Ryne Stanek chugging a beer that another fan flung at him as an example to argue Arcidiacono’s move wasn’t nefarious.
“Astros pitcher Ryne Stanek set the legendary chugging bar high that day. The Houston Astros official social media account featured him chugging a beer a fan threw to him. That fan posted his own video showing how excited he was it happened,” Stradley explained.