Tag: Gadget Dan

Attorney Charged for Attack on Elderly Pro-Trump Protester

Benjamin Siminou
Attacker of Elderly Patriots
Benjamin Israel Siminou was arraigned for battery and petty theft in San Diego on Thursday, October 25th at the downtown courthouse, San Diego (1100 Union Street). In an attempt to avoid publicity, neither the defendant nor his attorney appeared in open court. The arraignment was done by FAX!

Siminou is a prominent, young, personal injury attorney in San Diego. He attacked an elderly, pro-American protester at the “Keeping Families Together” march on Saturday, June 30, 2018 at Waterfront Park near downtown San Diego.

The San Diego Union Tribune initially reported that the man, who turned out to be Siminou was arrested on a charge of strong-armed robbery, a felony, but he is not being arraigned on that charge. He was instead charged by the City Attorney’s Office with misdemeanor battery (PC242) and petty theft (PC484). (They were expected to charge the attacker with a felony until they found out he was a well-known, well-connected, local attorney.) The case number is M251687.

The pro-Trump, counter-protester, Daniel Russell, is a long-time, pro-immigration-law-enforcement activist, an Army veteran and a retired San Diego firefighter. Dan is 75 years old and a patient with an incurable form of cancer.

UPDATE: Dan Russel died on February 27, 2022 as a result of his soft tissue cancer. See Dan Russell Obituary. Dan told me that he thought his cancer might have been caused by the chemicals he inhaled as a firefighter.

The attack can be seen in this video at about 4:00 when Siminou pushed Russell backwards hard onto the concrete and then runs away with his sign. There were about 10-12 law enforcement officers in the immediate vicinity of the attack, mostly Sheriff’s deputies and two SDPD detectives. The attack was carried out in full view of these officers and three of them tackled Siminou immediately when he tried to run with Russell’s pro-Trump, pro-immigration-law-enforcement protest sign.

This is my video posted on Facebook and my YouTube channel and anyone has my permission to download it and re-use it in whole or any part of it. Neither Dan nor I support the ideologies of Nazism or Fascism, but they use such terms like an epithet to brand anyone, who strongly disagrees with them. Dan is very much pro border security, but he told me that he is otherwise more of a libertarian. He supported Trump for his policy of improving Border Security. Many different kinds of people use the term “patriot”. Dan was a “patriot” in a good sense. He was an army veteran who served his community for the rest of his life as a fireman and in his public service.

Protesters concerned about families attack grandfather of a family

News coverage – San Diego Union Tribune

The other person arrested was Julie Lourdes Coralles for vandalizing Russell’s pro-Trump, build-the-wall / enforce-the-law sign (at 4:29). The City Attorney refused to prosecute or cite Coralles, even though she was caught on video ripping up his sign in full view of about a dozen law enforcement officials.

Siminou worked with a leading legal firm, but separated about six months earlier, Thorsnes Bartolotta McGuire, and now has his own office in Liberty Station, Siminou Appeals.

Siminou was scheduled to be awarded the national “Pound Award” the very next week in Colorado for his lawsuit against drug companies, regarding their liability for generic drug labeling. However, after his attack on the elderly veteran, the Pound Civil Justice Institute removed his name from the award, due to calls by by a concerned citizen. See original award description here.

Still Images from the video can also be downloaded from this link, which anyone has permission to re-use.

San Diego Union Tribune Article
For second weekend, Trump’s immigration policies at center of San Diego protests
Two people were arrested during the protest — one on a charge of strong-armed robbery, which involved a protester taking a sign from another, and a second on a vandalism charge, sheriff’s officials said. More detailed information on the arrests was not available, though Lt. Rich Williams said the person arrested for vandalism was cited and released.

San Diego Reader Article
Build the Wall sign attracts Waterfront Park scuffle
On July 9 Russell called the D.A.’s office and was told they decided not to file a felony charge against Siminou (the arraignment that day was cancelled) and would transfer the case to the City Attorney’s office to be reviewed for a misdemeanor charge.

City attorney Mara Elliott’s chief of staff Gerry Braun responded to my request for comment by accusing me of advancing the positions of a hate group.

Help Gadget Dan Obtain Justice

Reader03A prominent personal injury attorney in San Diego, named Benjamin Israel Siminou, shamefully and violently attacked an elderly, pro-American protester at the “Keeping Families Together” march on Saturday, June 30, 2018 at Waterfront Park near downtown San Diego. The protester, an Army veteran, goes by the handle “Gadget Dan”. Dan is, without doubt, one of the biggest supporters — if not the biggest – supporter of President Donald J. Trump in the Nation.

See the video below to see the attack about about 4:00 minutes. There is a gap in the video at this point, because I had my camera off, talking to a police detective, who wanted us to move to another location, because the profane crowd surrounding us was becoming very large and increasingly hostile. A long-time activist supporter of the Border Patrol and immigration-law enforcement. Dan was protesting alone in support of the “Zero Tolerance” policy and President Trump in the middle of well over a thousand rabid, foul-mouthed, intolerant, leftist, anti-American protesters. I was there just to take video (see below).

A complaint was originally filed by the Sheriff for felony, strong-arm robbery with the County DA. The complaint has been reduced to a misdemeanor and transferred to the City Attorney’s office. A few months ago, the far-left City Attorney, Mara Elliot, called Patriot Fire a “hate group”, because some of us merely wanted to fly an American flag in Chicano Park, a revolutionary, extremely anti-American public park.

Patriot Fire is just the domain name of my blog and the name used on Facebook and Youtube. It’s just one person, but she means all of us, who love America, support American sovereignty and support the rule of law and law enforcement. She called us again a “hate group” in this case. She said that any support would be “advancing the positions of a hate group”. So, we need an attorney to make sure justice is done. We have one available, who is willing to do the job for a $2,000 retainer.

$2,000 will pay for the initial fees, after that, probably it will be done on a percentage contingency basis. So, this money is probably all that will be needed to bring this arrogant attorney to justice, who attacked an elderly patriot with serious health issues close-up and in direct view of about a dozen law enforcement officers. Siminou thinks he is above the law and that no one can touch him. Our City Attorney, Mara Elliot, would love to let Siminou go with no charges or punishment at all, because she is a partisan, La Raza supporter and has politicized her office in an extreme way, exactly the opposite of what she promised in her campaign. By spreading lies about the case and not prosecuting this criminal attorney, Elliot is actually condoning violence even against the sick and elderly, who may not happen to support her extreme political views.

MEDIA COVERAGE

Local media outlets have largely suppressed news of this incident, only the San Diego Reader was courageous enough to publish an article. Probably the other media outlets have not said a word about it, because Mara Elliott also told them her “Big Lie” that serving justice in this egregious case of violent physical abuse of a senior citizen would help promote the goals of some “hate group” that does not even exist. Merely supporting the enforcement of the law is not “hate”.

Build the Wall sign attracts Waterfront Park scuffle – San Diego Reader

Attorney Attacks Elderly Vet at “Keeping Families Together” March (Video)

Benjamin Israel Siminou
Abuser of Elderly Veteran

A prominent personal injury attorney in San Diego, named Benjamin Israel Siminou, violently attacked an elderly, pro-American protester at the “Keeping Families Together” march on Saturday, June 30, 2018 at Waterfront Park near downtown San Diego. A initial complaint was filed against him for felony, strong-arm robbery. After it was learned that he was a prominent attorney, the charge was subsequently reduced to a misdemeanor and — after a quick trial — immediately expunged from his record, thanks to the City attorney’s office, Mara Elliot.

New Post – Attorney Charged

The pro-Trump counter-protester is a long-time, pro-immigration-law-enforcement activist and an Army veteran, known as “Gadget Dan”. Dan is 75 years old and has a life-threatening medical condition (cancer). He was a fireman before he retired. Breathing the toxic fumes of firefighting may have caused his current very serious medical problem. His entire life as a fireman, veteran and activist has been spent, often at great risk to his own life, in what he feels is service to all Americans, not just one political faction.

It is not known yet, if he has serious injuries. Apparently, some of those, who are so sensitive to treatment of children, seem to have no problem at all with violent physical abuse of the sick and elderly.

UPDATE: Dan Russel died on February 27, 2022 as a result of his soft tissue cancer. See Dan Russell Obituary. Dan told me that he thought his cancer might have been caused by the chemicals he inhaled as a firefighter.

Siminou worked with a leading legal firm, but separated about six months earlier, Thorsnes Bartolotta McGuire, and now has his own office in Liberty Station, Siminou Appeals. Siminou is scheduled to receive a prestigious national award for one of his lawsuits in Denver next weekend from the Pound Civil Justice Institute. (Update: He is reportedly no longer scheduled to receive this award.)

At about 4:30 in this video, Siminou is seen shoving the protester down hard on the concrete sidewalk and then running away with the sign that he had just wrested away from Dan. Siminou was then tackled by several deputies. A second person, named “Julie” was arrested for vandalizing the sign. She was cited and released, also. About a dozen police and sheriff deputies witnessed the attack from close up.

The veteran was merely speaking out for immigration law enforcement in support of President Trump. He was not doing anything to provoke a violent attack. On the contrary, the far-Left, neo-Marxist and La Raza marchers heaped abuse and epithets on the veteran for about an hour before the attack.

His sign read, “Build the Wall, Enforce the Law” with two American flags mounted on it. As the veteran is led away in handcuffs for his own protection, the not-so-tolerant crowd boisterously cheers the attack and the effect it had of removing him from the scene, due to the threat of violence from the cheering crowd, itself.

The attack starts at about 4:30 in the video below.

Siminou received special treatment as an attorney and was released on his own recognizance. He did not have to spend any time in jail and did not have to pay a dime in bail. A regular citizen would have spent 4-5 days in jail on this holiday weekend. Siminou is scheduled to be arraigned on felony charges on July 9th, ironically the day after he is to be presented with a national award for his legal work. (Update: After complaints from concerned citizens, Siminou did not receive this award.)

In the end Siminou’s charges were reduced to a misdemeanor and transferred to the City Attorney’s office (Mara Elliot). Siminou only received a small fine and two days of public service. After his public service was finished his crime was expunged immediately to make it look like he never committed a crime.

Gadget Dan and his pro-Trump sign

The reason there are not more people, like Gadget Dan, coming out to counter-protest these so-called “save-the-children” events is the very justified fear of harassment, violence and abuse from the crowd. The feeling of collective moral superiority that many of the participants have allows them to rationalize that threats, offensive insults, name-calling and physical abuse of others are justified, even of our elderly veterans.