A campaign staffer for Mike Siegel, the Democrat challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, was arrested Wednesday while delivering a letter to the Waller County Courthouse, the Waller County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Thursday.
According to a news release from the Siegel campaign Wednesday night, Jacob Aronowitz, a field director with the campaign, was at the courthouse to deliver a letter disputing a county decision the campaign said risks disenfranchising students at nearby Prairie View A&M University, a historically black institution….
Aronowitz was at the county courthouse Wednesday to deliver a letter disputing Eason’s announcement. According to a Siegel campaign spokesperson, Aronowitz took a photo of the letter’s delivery that included the clerk in order to prove that the office had received the letter. In an interview with The Texas Tribune, Waller County Sheriff Captain Manny Zamora said the clerk was “disturbed” and called courthouse security….
He said Aronowitz was arrested and charged with failure to identify, a Class C misdemeanor. Under the Texas Penal Code, a person can be charged with failure to identify if he “intentionally refuses to give his name, residence address, or date of birth to a peace officer who has lawfully arrested the person and requested the information.” The penalty is a fine of up to $500.
But the Siegel campaign and Aronowitz’s lawyer, Sylvia Cedillo, said he did identify himself.
Siegel told the Tribune he was on the phone with Aronowitz for much of the altercation and that Aronowitz identified himself twice: once to the clerk when he first walked up to the counter and again while Siegel was on the phone with Aronowitz while he was being detained….
Siegel said he overheard a police officer ask Aronowitz what party his campaign was affiliated with. He called the encounter “an abuse of power.”