No political motive to beating of Marco Rubio canvasser: Florida cops

Police in South Florida has said there is no indication that an attack on a campaign canvasser for Sen. Marco Rubio on Sunday night was politically motivated.

Javier Lopez, 25, of Hialeah, was arrested at the scene by responding cops who found the victim, Christopher Monzon, with cuts and bruises.

Rubio wrote tweeted Monday that Lopez and others told Monzon that Republicans were not welcome in the neighborhood before the assault.

But Hialeah cops said there was no immediate evidence that the incident was politically motivated, though they added that an investigation was ongoing.

Monzon was hospitalized with severe bruising and other injuries.

According to a police report, the victim was wearing a Rubio T-shirt and handing out flyers on a sidewalk.

Lopez told him that he couldn’t distribute the flyers and Monzon moved away from him to avoid further contact, the documents state.

“You can’t pass by here,” Lopez reportedly said. “This is my neighborhood.”

Monzon then asserted that he had a right to stand in a public space and the pair began arguing, the papers state.

Lopez then rushed Monzon and slammed him to the floor as another man who later fled the scene kicked the victim in the face.

“The defendant continued striking the victim on his mouth causing severe swelling and bleeding,” according to the report.

Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo, a Republican, declined to rule out a political angle to the violence and urged patience with the investigation.

“Right now, I don’t think anything can be discarded,” Bovo said, telling Fox News that Monzon was “engaging voters’ before the incident.”

“We do know the facts,” the mayor said. “He was wearing a Rubio T-shirt. He had a DeSantis hat on. He was canvassing and he was beaten and he was beaten severely.”

Monzon has a checkered past. He unsuccessfully ran for the Hialeah City Council last year and was arrested in 2017 after jabbing at protesters with a Confederate flag in Hollywood, Fla. He pleaded no contest to aggravated assault and was sentenced to probation.