Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson was handcuffed, put on the ground and detained by local law enforcement after he tried to help a teenage girl at a rodeo, as per a witness who spoke to CNN.
According to Linda Dianne Shouse, a home healthcare and traveling nurse, her 15-year-old relative was experiencing a seizure possibly due to low blood sugar at the White Deer rodeo, near Amarillo, Texas.
Jackson, who represents the Amarillo area and is an ER physician, came forward to assist, though Shouse didn’t know he was a congressman at that moment.
“We were just waiting for EMS to get there. The police came up, the deputies, highway patrol, and everyone was just screaming, ‘Get back, get back, get back,’” Shouse revealed in an interview.
Shouse and another family member, also a nurse, were aiding the girl when a woman pushed and punched Shouse, and a law enforcement officer yelled at Jackson to stay back, saying, “Get the f**k back.”
Rep. Ronny Jackson cuffed, ‘briefly detained’ at rodeo while helping with medical emergency: report https://t.co/FwPH0BysFp pic.twitter.com/zWrRlza9BR— New York Post (@nypost) August 2, 2023
“He was trying to tell them that he was a doctor and probably trying to tell him who he was, to be honest. And they were screaming that they did not effing care who he was,” she stated.
“And the next thing I knew, they had him on the ground, grabbed him by the shirt, threw him on the ground, face first into the concrete and had him in cuffs.” Shouse added.
Moreover, Shouse said that once they realized Jackson’s identity, they released him and apologized.
“We had the scene under control. We were just ready to give a report to EMS and get the patient out of there. And that’s not what happened,” Shouse said. “She wound up going eventually, but whenever you have someone laying there – when it could be neurological – time is on your hands.”
Jackson’s spokesperson said he was briefly detained while trying to help the teenager. He asked if the relative needed assistance, and once she confirmed, he stepped in. The authorities released him promptly when they saw he was tending to the medical emergency.
“While assessing the patient in a very loud and chaotic environment, confusion developed with law enforcement on the scene and Dr. Jackson was briefly detained and was actually prevented from further assisting the patient,” the spokesperson stated.
Furthermore, the Carson County Sheriff is reviewing the incident, and CNN reached out for further comment.
Jackson, who served as the White House physician for Presidents Obama and Trump, was elected to represent Texas’ 13th Congressional District in 2020 after retiring from the US Navy as a rear admiral in 2019.
Meanwhile, the teenage girl is back home and undergoing further evaluation after the incident.
