A Catholic pro-life influencer has filed a lawsuit against the 30-year-old woman accused of punching her in the face and leaving her bloodied in New York City.
The victim, Savannah Craven Antao, was working for Live Action when the incident happened on April 3, Fox News reported Friday.
Craven Antao was interviewing the suspect, identified as Brianna J. Rivers, when Rivers allegedly punched her in the face, according to Breitbart News.
Video footage shows the moments leading up the alleged assault:
Rivers was arrested a few days later and faced one count of second-degree assault. However, leftist Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office dismissed the charges in the case, according to Craven Antao, who said her case was “deliberately sabotaged.”
Per the Fox article:
According to the complaint, filed Nov. 18 in Bronx Supreme Court, Craven Antao went to the emergency room for stitches after the attack, incurring more than $3,000 in medical bills. Her attorneys at the Thomas More Society allege that Rivers has “knowingly, willfully and maliciously continued to mock [Savannah] and her views online in order to further inflict emotional distress.”
The lawsuit also claims Rivers mocked Craven Antao’s religious beliefs and marketed merchandise referencing the assault. One alleged post showed a T-shirt design with the word “BAM!” and an image of a fist striking a face — which the complaint says Rivers and her cousin created to raise money for her legal defense.
The victim suffered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and has received death threats as a result of the incident and the video, according to her attorneys.
Video footage shows Craven Antao inside what appears to be a police car in the moments after the assault.
“She’s big. She’s tall,” she said, later adding the conversation with the suspect “escalated very quickly” during the interview:
Bragg’s office later claimed there was a filing error in the case and apologized to Craven Antao, but she decided to file the lawsuit to hold the suspect accountable and for her medical bills to be paid.
Antao also pointed to Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September, a horrific event that shook the entire world. Kirk was a strong Christian conservative and pro-life advocate.
“If they could do it to somebody like him, who has the resources to have the security and the checks and all the people surrounding him, what does this say for just average journalists … who don’t have the means to hire a whole security team and be armed?” she questioned.
Read the full article here