The aftermath of President Trump’s rally in Toledo amounted to more than $50,000 in costs to Toledo taxpayers and came with two arrests, including the arrest of a Lucas County commissioner’s daughter on a disorderly conduct charge.
City spokesman Ignazio Messina said officials estimates police overtime for the event cost taxpayers $30,000. The city also put 14 employees from the Department of Streets, Bridges, and Harbor on the street along with 13 city trucks to perform various jobs, including cleanup, between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. on Thursday. That work cost $23,759, Mr. Messina said.
Mr. Messina said Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz was “super pleased with how police and firefighters handled” the Trump rally. In his weekly newsletter, the mayor wrote he was “proud that by and large,” the rally “was a peaceful event.”
“Those who attended the rally and those who protested outside all exercised their free speech peacefully,” he wrote.
One of only two arrests made related to the event was that of Laura Gerken, the daughter of Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken. She was arrested Thursday night while protesting and charged with disorderly conduct after she “engaged in a physical fight with another person in a parking lot” near Huron Street and Jefferson Avenue, according to a police report.
Mr. Gerken, a South Toledo resident who has been a Lucas County commissioner as a Democrat since 2005, joined fellow Democrats in the days leading up to the Trump rally and publicly admonished the president to be respectful toward the Toledo community during his visit.
After his daughter’s arrest, Mr. Gerken in a prepared statement to The Blade said his family feels “strongly about the views of President Trump,” but added that police did a “great job yesterday protecting everyone’s safety.”
"All Americans have the right to free speech and to exercise their right to express their opinions,” the statement read. “The Toledo police department and all law enforcement professionals did a great job yesterday protecting everyone’s safety in the downtown area. Like so many other Americans, we feel strongly about the views of President Trump. We will deal with this issue as a family."
A police report said Ms. Gerken, 36, of Perrysburg, was “in a highly emotional state and was yelling obscenities both at the person she was engaged in the confrontation with, officers, and passersby.”
Ms. Gerken could not be reached for comment. She’s scheduled to appear in Toledo Municipal Court on Monday.
Her confrontation with Trump supporters comes after her father was accused in July of yelling obscenities at Trump supporters during a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren.
A second woman, 29-year-old Lindsey Rowland, of Oregon, was also arrested outside the Trump rally. Police contend Ms. Rowland was drunk, “uneasy on her feet,” and that she punched an officer with a closed fist. She was charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication.
Toledo police chief George Kral was unavailable for comment Friday.
Staff writer Kate Snyder contributed.
First Published January 10, 2020, 2:47 p.m.
