Retired NYPD cop punched by a woman at his 50th birthday party after his red cap was mistaken for MAGA hat
A 50-year-old retired New York Police Department (NYPD) officer was reportedly punched in the face by a woman in Nashville because his red hat looked similar to Trump's 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) hat.
The former cop, identified as Daniel Sprague from Staten Island, said that he was celebrating his 50th birthday with his wife and friends at The Stage on Broadway on Friday when a woman walked up to him and attacked him. He retired from the NYPD in 2009.
"I was outside with my friends when someone grabbed me from behind, spun me around and punched me in the face," Sprague told the New York Post. "At first I thought it was a friend until I got hit. I couldn’t believe someone could get that upset."
Sprague, on the evening of the incident, was wearing a red hat with the words “Make Fifty Great Again” on it while the shirt he was wearing had an American flag that read "Making America Great Since 1970."
The 50-year-old said that bar's bouncers asked both of them to leave from the property before he had a chance to call the police. Sprague, however, filed a report the following day.
"All night people were giving me thumbs up, smiles or some showing rage, until they walked up close and saw what hat said,” he recalled. “Then they would wish me a happy birthday." Sprague added that he was surprised by the hate, and said that he showed respect for politicians, even the ones he did not like.
"I love Trump, but I wouldn’t hit someone who had a Bernie hat on," Sprague said. The former cop is also retired as a member of the elite Emergency Service Unit. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I wasn’t an Obama fan but if he walked into a place where I was, I would show him and the office respect.”
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department took a report of the incident, which read: "Suspect grabbed his hat from his head and punched him in the face. He stated that when the suspect hit him in the face, he did not hit her back.”