Assaulted protester considering legal action

The female protester who was kicked at the Republican Youth Convention in New York is considering taking legal action against her attacker.

While the attacker was unidentified when the footage was shot, several Penn students have since identified him as Wharton junior Scott Robinson, based on a digital file of a video circulating on the Internet.

Clare Martin, 26, of Berkeley, Calif., said yesterday that she has not ruled out any options against the young man who kicked her while she was being detained by Secret Service and security detail at Madison Square Garden on the morning of Sept. 1.

"We're considering our options," Martin said. "Pressing charges is definitely one of them."

Martin was part of a group of AIDS activists who attended the event to protest the president's policies toward poor African countries.

Much of the incident was captured by a local ABC television camera. The footage shows a blond-haired attendee helping to drag Martin to the ground and then making a kicking motion toward her while she is lying on the ground.

Robinson did not return several phone calls or an e-mail for comment.

Speaking to Reason Magazine about the allegations earlier this month, Robinson said that, though he was working at the Republican National Convention, he was not in attendance at the Youth Convention.

The protesters, who had tickets to the event and were wearing regular clothing covering anti-Bush T-shirts and signs, stood up as the keynote speaker -- White House Chief of Staff Andy Card -- took the stage.

They stood on their chairs and held up the signs, while some of the Republicans in the crowd tried to shake the chairs out from underneath them. Martin said she fell to the ground twice, and was quickly detained by the Secret Service.

"I was standing there with my sign. Somebody grabbed it and ripped it out of my hands," she said. "The next thing I knew, I was on the ground, and the Secret Service were in my face telling me to calm down."

"When I was down on the floor, somebody was kicking me," she added, noting that she was unable to get a good look at her attacker, but has seen the video footage of the incident.

Penn Law professor Kermit Roosevelt said that Martin has several legal options, though a case would hinge on positively identifying the attacker.

Martin could take her case to prosecutors in New York and ask them to press charges or file a civil lawsuit and ask for monetary damages.

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