Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), a former White House physician for Barack Obama and Donald Trump, was “briefly detained” by law enforcement while assisting a 15-year-old girl having a medical emergency at a rodeo over the weekend.
The incident happened Saturday night at the White Deer Rodeo, an annual event approximately 40 miles outside Amarillo.
Jackson’s office confirmed the incident, saying he was detained in a “very loud and chaotic environment” and released once police realized he was trying to help the girl.
Rep. Ronny Jackson cuffed, ‘briefly detained’ at rodeo while helping with medical emergency: report https://t.co/FwPH0BysFp pic.twitter.com/zWrRlza9BR
— New York Post (@nypost) August 2, 2023
“Dr. Jackson sat in the stands during the entire rodeo, in full view of the assembled crowd, and was not drinking,” his office said in a statement given to the media.
“When Dr. Jackson arrived at the scene, there was a relative, who happened to be a nurse, already providing assistance. Dr. Jackson explained that he was a physician and asked her if she needed help, and she said yes.”
The New York Post reports:
Jackson’s office said there were no EMTs in the area at the time, and while trying to help the girl “in a very loud and chaotic environment,” there was confusion among responding police officers and the congressman was “briefly detained and was actually prevented from further assisting the patient.”
“He was immediately released as soon as law enforcement realized that he, as a medical professional, was tending to the young girl’s medical emergency,” Jackson’s office said.
According to CNN, the teenager was “seizing due to possible hypoglycemia.”
Per CNN:
Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas was handcuffed and placed on the ground face-first by local law enforcement while he was trying to assist a teenage girl in medical distress at a rodeo over the weekend, according to a witness who spoke to CNN.
In a Facebook post, Linda Dianne Shouse, a home healthcare and traveling nurse, said her 15-year-old relative was “seizing due to possible hypoglycemia” Saturday night at the White Deer rodeo, about 45 miles northeast of Amarillo, Texas. Jackson represents the Amarillo area and was an attendee at the rodeo.
Shouse said she and another family member, who is also a nurse, were attending to the girl when Jackson, who is an ER physician, stepped in to assist. Shouse said she didn’t know Jackson was a congressman at the time but told CNN they were all working together to help the teen girl.
“We were just waiting for EMS to get there. The police came up, the deputies, highway patrol, and everyone was just screaming, ‘Get back, get back, get back,’” she said during an interview.
Shouse said she was pushed back and then punched in the chest by a woman and said she saw a law enforcement official screaming in Jackson’s face, telling him to “Get the f**k back.”
“He was trying to tell them that he was a doctor and probably trying to tell him who he was, to be honest. And they were screaming that they did not effing care who he was,” she said. “And the next thing I knew, they had him on the ground, grabbed him by the shirt, threw him on the ground, face first into the concrete and had him in cuffs.”
Tam Terry, the local sheriff, said his department was “reviewing the incident,” according to The Texas Tribune.
From The Texas Tribune:
It is unclear who detained Jackson. In addition to the Carson County sheriff’s office, EMS for White Deer and neighboring Gray County responded to the calls that led to the person being detained, according to the sheriff’s statement.
Carson County EMS deferred comment to the sheriff. Gray County EMS said only that it could confirm that it responded to multiple calls at the rodeo from Saturday night to early Sunday morning.
A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety said the agency had no comment.
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