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Brevard County law enforcement are investigating whether Democratic Senate candidate Val Demings’ security wrongly pushed a man to the ground. Video obtained by Florida Politics shows two individuals pushing the man on Aug. 6 at a meet-and-greet event in Mims. Demings met with supporters at Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park, a public setting, but security blocked the individual from entering.
Based on dialogue captured on the video, the individual appeared to be a video tracker who regularly follows the campaign. One clip shows two security guards, one of whom shouts “Don’t do it,” before the man is pushed down to the ground on the street. Another security staffer then says, “You can’t get up. Stay down.”
“What are you doing?” the man pushed to the ground asks. Clearly surprised, he uses an expletive as he again questions why guards are taking such action.
Demings officials stood by the security team’s handling of the campaign tracker.
The guards shown look to be employees of Ardent Protection, a company hired by Demings campaign. The security personnel pushing the man to the ground appears to be Constantino Georgudis, an executive protection officer for Ardent Protection, and Wayne Bacon, vice president of the company.
Demings’ Senate campaign has paid the Sunrise firm $17,458 since May to provide security services, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Most recently, $963 was paid to the firm on July 26, about a week before the event in question.