A Philadelphia woman is accused of attacking a police horse with a flag pole during an anti-Muslim rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania over the weekend.
Police said the incident occurred during an ACT for America Rally Saturday at 11:32 a.m. on the Capital steps of North 3rd and State streets in Harrisburg. It was one of several rallies in cities across the nation Saturday that were sponsored by ACT for America, which is classified as an anti-Muslim hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
During the rally, protesters moved from the Capital steps onto N. 3rd Street throughout the midtown area, officials said. Several mounted Pennsylvania State Police troopers and Harrisburg Police were helping to move the crowd from blocking the 1200 block of N. 6th Street towards the sidewalk, according to investigators.
As a State Police Corporal and his police horse partner attempted to move the crowd, a woman, identified by police as Lisa Simon, 23, of Philadelphia, allegedly used a flag pole with a silver nail at the top to strike the horse on the side of the neck. Simon allegedly resisted as Harrisburg Police officers tried to arrest her. She was later taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault to police, taunting police animals, disorderly conduct and other related offenses.
Neither the corporal nor the police horse were seriously hurt.
