Texas cops and a 911 dispatcher ignored desperate pleas for help from Democratic Party officials aboard a Joe Biden campaign bus that was surrounded by a convoy known as the ‘Trump Train’ while driving down a freeway last year, a lawsuit claims.
Officials with the San Marcos police ‘privately laughed’ and ‘joked about the victims and their distress’ as those aboard the Biden-Harris campaign bus feared for their safety, it is alleged.
The Democrat Party filed a federal suit accusing the police officers of violating the so called ‘Ku Klux Klan’ act that prohibits politically motivated violence.
The Texas Tribune reported that the updated lawsuit included transcription 911 audio recordings. However, the audio of the offending calls was not released.
According to transcriptions, the Biden bus entered San Marcos’ territory when a New Braunfels 911 dispatcher attempted to get neighboring San Marcos officers to take over the escort New Braunfels provided along Interstate 35.
‘I am so annoyed at New Braunfels for doing this to us,’ a dispatcher told San Marcos police Corporal Matthew Daenzer, who laughed, according to the transcribed recording in the filing.
‘They have their officers escorting this Biden bus, essentially, and the Trump Train is cutting in between vehicles and driving – being aggressive and slowing them down to like 20 or 30 miles per hour.
‘And they want you guys to respond to help.’
Daenzer told the San Marcos dispatcher ‘we’re not going to escort a bus,’ according to the documents.
‘We will “close patrol” that, but we’re not going to escort a bus,’ Daenzer is alleged to have continued.
The San Marcos dispatcher then tells Daenzer that those on board the Biden bus are panicked, saying: ‘[T]hey’re like really worked up over it and he’s like breathing hard and stuff, like, “they’re being really aggressive.”
‘Okay. Calm down.’
Daenzer then allegedly tells the dispatcher that the Biden bus should ‘drive defensively and it’ll be great.’
‘Or leave the train,’ the 911 dispatcher responded, according to the lawsuit. ‘There’s an idea.’

Texas police officials and a 911 dispatcher ignored desperate pleas for help from Democratic Party officials aboard a Joe Biden campaign bus that was surrounded by a convoy known as the ‘Trump Train’ while driving down a freeway last year, it’s been alleged
One bus passenger was told by the dispatcher to call back if he felt threatened.
‘Are you kidding me, ma’am?’ The caller answered.
“They’ve repeatedly pushed me in on multiple occasions.” They’ve threatened me with my life on numerous occasions through vehicular collision.
The dispatcher then informs the caller aboard the bus that traffic violations would be monitored by authorities if they occur, but that no police officers would accompany them.
According to the lawsuit, the high-ranking police officer who decided not to send an ambulance was San Marcos assistant chief police chief Brandon Winkenwerder.
According to the documents Chase Stapp (public safety director) later texted to police saying that the Biden bus had not left I-35 due to Trump’s escort.

Numerous Trump supporters drove vehicles that affixed Trump flags and banners to their SUVs, surrounding the Biden Harris campaign bus as it traveled from San Antonio to Austin on October 30, 2019. (above). One of the Trump Train’ vehicles collided with an SUV


The police officials named in the amended lawsuit on Friday include San Marcos Police Corporal Matt Daenzer (far left); Chase Stapp, the public safety director (second to left next to Daenzer); and San Marcos Police Assistant Chief Brandon Winkenwerder (right)
Videos posted on social media starting October 30, 2020 show a group car and pickup truck, many with large Trump flags, riding alongside the campaign bus as they travel from San Antonio to Austin.
Sometimes, the ‘Trump Train” was boxed in to the bus.
It is alleged that one of the pickups collided at one point with an SUV behind it. A white Democrat SUV was pictured afterward with what appears to have been dark tire marks.
Biden was on his way to San Marcos to attend a political event that Democrats cancelled.
Biden and Kamala Harris, his running mate, were not present.
After the FBI said it was investigating, Trump, then-President, criticized the FBI and tweeted glowing praise for the Trump train.

After the FBI confirmed that it was investigating the incident, Donald Trump, then-President, doubled his support for a group of MAGA supporters who tried to drive a Biden campaign bus off the Texas road.

Video shows dozens of cars with MAGA flags flanking a Biden bus on Interstate 35 in Texas, on the afternoon of October 30, 2020.

Biden campaign staff eventually called police to help the bus reach its destination.

Trump had previously tweeted his support for the 50-strong Trump convoy. He posted a video of MAGA flag-flying vehicles surrounding the Biden bus as the bus made its way down the highway and wrote: ‘I LOVE Texas’

The image shows the Biden bus driving alongside a Trump Train’ vehicle.

A Biden staffer shared the photo (above), of the car that was damaged after it collided into a Trump truck.
Later emails from police described it as a “debacle” and warned of a “political firestorm.”
Four days later, a report on the incident stated that police did not provide an ambulance because of’staffing problems, lack of planning time, and lack knowledge of the route’.
The City of San Marcos declined comment due to the pending legislation.
Lisa Prewitt, a former San Marcos City Councilmember who was a candidate to the county commission at that time, stated that she had notified local law enforcement 24 hour prior to the event and raised safety concerns.
The lawsuit claims that the police and the city violated an 1871 law, commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. It was originally created to stop violence against black people.
It seeks unspecified punitive or compensatory damages.