It took three cops and a chemical spray to subdue the youngest son of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s 2016 running mate, Saturday after he was identified as one of the counterprotesters who allegedly used fireworks to disrupt a rally in support of President Donald Trump at the Minnesota State Capitol.
Linwood Michael Kaine, 24, and four others were arrested on suspicion of second-degree riot after the “March 4 Trump” rally in St. Paul; a sixth person was cited for disorderly conduct. Counterprotesters clashed with Trump supporters in the Capitol rotunda after they disrupted the proceedings with air horns, whistles and chants. At one point, someone set off a smoke bomb.
NEW: Videos show smoke bomb thrown during Trump rally at Capitol, protesters ordered out
Linwood Kaine, a Minneapolis resident who attended Carleton College and goes by Woody, resisted arrest when confronted by officers outside the Capitol grounds, according to a St. Paul police spokesman. He was released from the Ramsey County jail Tuesday morning pending further investigation, law enforcement officials said.
No charges were filed against him or the four others arrested by St. Paul police.
St. Paul City Attorney Samuel Clark is reviewing the case for possible misdemeanor charges.
A voicemail message left Tuesday night for Linwood Kaine was not returned.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a St. Paul native, released a Tuesday night statement through a spokesperson to the Pioneer Press.
“We love that our three children have their own views and concerns about current political issues,” he said. “They fully understand the responsibility to express those concerns peacefully.”
Woody Kaine is one of three children of Tim Kaine and his wife, Anne Houlton. An older son, Nat, a Marine serving overseas, was more visible during the presidential campaign. The couple also has a daughter, Anella.
On Saturday afternoon, several hundred Trump supporters showed up at the Capitol for a permitted rally billed as the “March 4 Trump,” one of several held around the country.
The Minnesota State Patrol estimated the crowds at 400 Trump supporters and 50 counterdemonstrators.
Speeches had been going on for about a half-hour inside the newly renovated Capitol rotunda when a group of people tried to disrupt the event. At one point, someone set off a smoke bomb — apparently striking a woman in the head, police said.
A 61-year-old Plymouth woman said she was hit in the head at 12:30 p.m., about 10 minutes after she arrived at the Trump rally. The woman said she saw something coming toward her, tried to avoid the object, but it struck her in the forehead, according to Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman. She was not injured. It was not clear who threw the smoke bomb.
Security guards intervened, skirmishes broke out, and someone sprayed chemical irritant into the crowd. Some counterdemonstrators dispersed, and the rally resumed.
LINWOOD KAINE’S ARREST
The Minnesota State Patrol contacted St. Paul police to assist, reporting that troopers had identified five people who lit off fireworks inside the Capitol, Linders said. The State Patrol asked St. Paul officers to arrest the five.
Police approached them at a park near the Capitol, identified themselves as officers and the people ran in different directions, but officers caught up with them, according to Linders.
An officer ordered a man, later identified as Linwood Kaine, to the ground. He refused, Linders said.
“The officer was able to get ahold of Mr. Kaine, but he got up, squared off with the officer and the officer tried to take him to the ground again,” Linders said Wednesday. Another officer arrived and sprayed a chemical irritant toward Kaine.
“He then was taken to the ground, but continued to resist, at which point another officer deployed a knee strike to get him to cooperate with the officers and put his hands behind his back,” Linders continued. “After the strike, Mr. Kaine cooperated and was taken into custody without further incident.”
The State Patrol arrested a sixth person at the Capitol.
People involved in Kaine’s arrest were not aware that he is the son of Tim Kaine, and it was brought to the police department’s attention by a Pioneer Press reporter, Linders said. No one from the U.S. senator’s office had contacted the department, he said.
On Tuesday evening, Clark, the city attorney, said he was also unaware of any connection to Tim Kaine until a Pioneer Press reporter informed him of it.
The other five people arrested during the rally were Jonathan Adams, 25, of Minneapolis; Glenn Kimball, 22, of Minneapolis; Isabell Kimball, 26, of Minneapolis; Haley Ryan, 23, of Webster, Minn.; and Anton William Bueckert, 29, of Ontario, Canada.
Elisa Sarmento, one of the rally’s organizers, was upset by the disruption, though she said it didn’t have much of an impact.
“All we wanted to do was just celebrate our president in our own country,” Sarmento said. “We have the freedom to do it and for those young kids to come … and disrupt and hurt people, that’s very disappointing.”