Last Updated on September 27, 2020
President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager and current senior adviser for data and digital operations, Brad Parscale, was hospitalized tonight after he barricaded himself in his Florida home with multiple firearms and threatened self harm, say police.
According to the initial statement from local police, “When officers arrived on scene, they made contact with the reportee (wife of armed subject) who advised her husband was armed, had access to multiple firearms inside the residence and threatening to harm himself.”
“Officers determined the only occupant inside the home was the adult male. Officers made contact with the male, developed a rapport, and safely negotiated for him to exit the home. The male was detained without injury and transported to Broward Health Medical Center for a Baker Act.”
Local media reports that the exchange between police and Parscale was short, with Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Karen Dietrich telling media, “We went out and it was very short. We went and got him help”:
The police, called by his wife, went to the house in the Seven Isles community, an affluent area in which houses have access to the water. They made contact, “developed a rapport” and negotiated his exit from the house, the police said in a statement. He was taken to Broward Health Medical Center under the Baker Act, which provides for temporary involuntary commitment.
…
Dietrich said he didn’t threaten police and he went willingly under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows police to detain a person who is potentially a threat to himself or others.
Parscale, who was largely considered instrumental to President Trump’s 2016 landslide victory in the electoral college, was initially given the role of campaign manager for the president’s 2020 reelection campaign. After criticism for his handling of President Trump’s Tulsa rally, the first after the country began emerging from COVID-19 lockdowns, Parscale was demoted to an advisory role similar to his 2016 role.
If you or a loved one are experiencing a mental health crisis or experiencing thoughts of self harm, please call the 24 hour National Suicide Lifeline at 800-273-8255, or for United Kingdom readers, please call the Samaritans Helpline at 116 123.
This is a developing news story and may be updated with additional details as they become available.
