By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
Former FSU employee Eden Deckerhoff, 23, was arrested and charged with battery after having a minor quarrel with a Jewish student wearing an IDF shirt last week wherein she allegedly touched his shoulder.
From WCTV, “Former FSU employee arrested after alleged ‘hate crime’ toward student caught in viral video”:
A former Florida State University employee has been charged in connection with a confrontation that occurred on FSU’s campus nearly a week ago. The incident was recorded, appearing to show antisemitic harassment on the university’s campus, and has garnered national attention since then.
Eden Deckerhoff, 23, was charged with battery in connection with the incident that transpired Wednesday, according to recent court records. She’s accused of confronting a student, who court records say was Jewish and was wearing a shirt representing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) when the incident occurred, and making profane statements directed at Israel.
As of Tuesday, Deckerhoff has been released from jail, court documents show.
[…] The video showed a woman, later identified as Deckerhoff, and a man, later identified as a Florida State student, in frame. Court records identify Deckerhoff as a “current FSU employee,” but an FSU spokesperson clarified Tuesday that she is a former employee.The footage went on to show Deckerhoff flipping off the student who appeared to be filming the video in the recreation center, per court records. She was also heard in the video making a statement laced with profanity aimed at Israel.
Court papers went on to say that the video also showed Deckerhoff appearing “to hit the male’s shoulder area while attempting to reach for his beverage on the table.” Just before the video concluded, the student was observed leaning back “in a defensive manner as if he was pushed by the female [Deckerhoff].”
Authorities were able to obtain additional surveillance footage and “investigative resources” detailing how the incident unfolded on Wednesday between Deckerhoff and the student.
At about 7 p.m. Wednesday, the 23-year-old suspect was seen approaching the student, who court papers say was sitting down in the recreational center and on his cell phone. Deckerhoff was then seen having a conversation with the student and appearing to “become upset,” per the documents.
Moments later, Deckerhoff was seen moving into his personal space and touching his shoulder “in a shoving motion while trying to attempt to reach for his beverage,” the documents wrote.
Shortly after, the student was observed “leaning back in a reactionary and defensive manner while lifting his left arm up to protect himself,” per court papers. Moments later, Deckerhoff was observed walking off just before flipping the student off.
The Jewish student, who has allegedly been identified as Yoel Rodrig, appears to have consulted with a Zionist support network before deciding to press charges against Deckerhoff.
When authorities asked the student if Deckerhoff grabbed or hit his arm, “he stated ‘maybe just a push, all in the moment it was very fast,” according to the documents.
He went on to tell police that Deckerhoff “definitely just hate-crimed” him.
Police then asked him if he would like to press charges, in which police papers revealed he said, “he would like to make that decision later.” The student also declined services from the university’s victim advocate program, stating he had other resources in the Jewish community providing support, records show.
Nearly an hour later, police interviewed a recreational center employee. Court papers say the employee told police that on the day of the incident, “Deckerhoff said, ‘he’s able to wear that shirt but I can’t protest this on campus.’”
Deckerhoff innocently spoke to police on her own, without an attorney, and appears to have given them all the ammunition they needed to charge her over what amounts to literally nothing.
She said the day of the incident, she saw the student wearing a “very offensive” shirt and got “very upset and went down and expressed my [Deckerhoff] First Amendment rights, freedom of speech and talked to them,” according to the police documents.
The 23-year-old confirmed to authorities that the student was wearing an IDF shirt. She also told police she is a master’s student working on a degree in social work, saying “it is her being to stand up for people that don’t have a voice,” per arrest papers.
Deckerhoff said she told the fellow student he “should be ashamed to wear a shirt for an army that is currently committing severe human rights violations.” She also confirmed to police that she made a statement laced with profanity aimed at Israel towards the student, the records show.
Additionally, Deckerhoff told authorities she did not touch the student at all.
Moments later, the 23-year-old went on to tell police that she had told staff in the recreational center the student’s shirt “supports a military that is committing severe atrocities” and that she wished they would “have a little more awareness, and not let someone wearing a shirt like this in,” per police records.
Shortly after, Deckerhoff told authorities she understood she should not have handled the incident the way she did, and that she was “very embarrassed” and “was willing to apologize to him for her actions.”
Just before the interview with her concluded, court records say that authorities told her she was “trespassed from all of FSU campus at this time, and if she was seen on campus, she would be subject to arrest.”
Deckerhoff innocently thought that she and he were operating under the same legal codes, not realizing that in the minds of our occupiers he’s “Chosen” by birth and she’s viewed as lower than dirt.
Everything she told the police will be used against her, most likely to pressure her into taking a plea deal.
The only positive news is State Attorney Jack Campbell declined to hit her with a hate crime enhancer.
“As a condition of her release, she cannot return to campus,” WTXL reports. “Campbell says they consulted the U.S. attorney’s office and reached a decision to handle the case in state court.”
Campbell said Deckerhoff has been “trespassed, suspended, and fired by FSU,” WTXL noted:
Campbell says it’s a normal process where agencies decide whether cases should be taken up at the state or federal level.
Trump’s DOJ absurdly got involved in this minor “shoving” case because the alleged “victim” was Jewish and Trump swiftly after taking office ordered all federal agencies to prioritize fighting antisemitism over all else.
The idea that it’s “normal” for a State Attorney to consult with the DOJ over a minor shoving incident is of course comical, but such is life in occupied America.