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While Amy Acton, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, wasn't attacked at the Canfield Fair, we don't know what could have happened had her security detail not intercepted an armed man heading toward her, knocking people down.
But it's disturbing to read and hear conspiracy theorists dismiss the altercation as a hoax on the toxic playground known as social media.
We don't know the intentions of Patrick Havas, the 38-year-old Canfield man accused of lunging toward Acton at the Canfield Fair on Sunday. That will be up to a court to decide.
Havas faces four misdemeanor counts: two for assault and one each for inciting panic and disorderly conduct.
He pleaded not guilty Tuesday and was released on $5,000 bond after spending two days in county jail before his arraignment. Havas has a pretrial scheduled for Oct. 2.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol, which is part of Acton's security, said Havas entered the Mahoning County Democratic Party tent at the fair around 2:30 p.m., forced his way through the crowd. He "knocked multiple fairgoers (it turned out to be two) over while trying to get toward Dr. Acton and was found to be in possession of a Taser and two pistols. Dr. Acton was unharmed during the incident."
The Taser turned out to be electrified brass knuckles.
Regarding the weapons, county Prosecutor Lynn Maro said after Havas' arraignment: "At this point, they weren't used in any way, shape or form and everything he had was legal under the state of Ohio as open carry. So you never like to see weapons involved because it's easy for things to escalate, but they didn't in this case fortunately."
At the arraignment, Havas was ordered to have no contact with the two people who were knocked down in the scuffle or Acton as well as to surrender his weapons.
Havas is cooperating with law enforcement, Maro said, and provided his cellphone.
Havas' recording of the event, Maro said, shows him "walking into the tent, recording and moving forward, calling her name and the state patrol -- her security I should say, somebody in her security coming forward and then his phone is either dropped or tousled and that's all we have."
Maro said Havas never had any contact with Acton and "never gets near her."
An initial search of Havas' cellphone for a potential motive, Maro said, shows "nothing so far. There was a search for critical terms that law enforcement typically use and they typically search for when they're conducting that risk assessment. None of those terms were found."
When I asked Maro about no felonies being charged, she said: "I know others thought there should have been charges related to the weapons. The weapons were never unholstered, removed, used, brandished in any way, utilized in this incident. Quite frankly, there were no charges under the Ohio Revised Code that would fit for simply possession of those weapons."
Maro said: "Nothing rose to a felony charge in our current review. Investigations are ongoing. We're working closely with the sheriff's department and the state patrol as they gather evidence and we'll continue to do that."
The only known video of the altercation is the one Havas recorded.
Acton's campaign asked those at the Democratic tent to not record the event. That's not uncommon when it comes to higher-level political candidates. It's primarily to stop trackers from opposing candidates from recording.
During the 2024 U.S. Senate campaign, Republican Bernie Moreno's staff used a handheld ultrasonic device that distorted and blocked recordings to stop trackers.
So it's quite likely that despite the county sheriff's office asking for video recordings of those at the Acton event at the fair to come forward, there isn't any.
But numerous eyewitnesses saw what occurred, including highway patrol officers.
To contend that Acton staged the incident or it's a hoax -- which a number of right-wing conspiracy theorists are saying -- is absurd.
People starving for attention contend the altercation was faked.
To his credit, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, who is facing Acton in the gubernatorial election, was quick to say he was "very grateful that Dr. Acton and her family are doing well. That's the most important thing and we're truly happy and relieved to hear that."
He praised law enforcement for the job they did and added: "Political violence has no place in America, period, full stop. Vigorous debate, yes. That's important and we do need to have vigorous debate in a civil way."
His campaign declined to comment on calls from David Pepper, Acton's lieutenant governor running mate, to "condemn these malicious lies immediately."
Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who supports Ramaswamy and had hired Acton as his state health director, told reporters Wednesday: "The incident that occurred at the Canfield Fair involving Amy Acton is reprehensible. Campaigns, candidates running for office have the right to go out and talk to people. It's one of the things we cherish. It's one of the things (that's) very, very important so anything that interferes with that is bad. We had people who were knocked down in this incident so not a good situation."
After they won their May primaries, DeWine ordered that Acton and Ramaswamy have OSHP security detail. A bill DeWine signed into law a month later requires the future protection of nominees for governor, lieutenant governor and other political candidates the sitting governor decides warrants protection.
Regarding conspiracy theorists, DeWine said: "That's a bunch of garbage. No one overblew it. Facts are facts. These are not good situations. They are anti-democratic."
SEPT. 11 MEMORIES
A final note: Today is the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. As someone who grew up on Staten Island, N.Y., and frequently visited and walked by the World Trade Center, the attacks had a profound impact on me. When my future wife first visited me when we started dating, the Twin Towers was among the first places I took her. I remember sitting in the old Vindicator newsroom, watching the second plane fly right into a Manhattan landmark in 2001, killing many innocent people. It's a horror that has stayed with me to this day.
David Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.