A Grown Man Was Charged With Allegedly Attacking a Teen for Wearing Hat During National Anthem

On Monday, a 39-year-old man in Montana was charged with allegedly assault a 13-year-old boy who didn’t take his hat off during the national anthem. Weird, definitely. But on Wednesday it got weirder.

The man, Curt Brockway, believes President Donald Trump told him to do it, due to a traumatic brain injury, according to the Missoulian. Brockway’s attorney, Lance Jasper, told the newspaper that Trump’s “rhetoric” hurt his client. “His commander in chief is telling people that if they kneel, they should be fired, or if they burn a flag, they should be punished. He certainly didn’t understand it was a crime,” Jasper said of Brockway, according to the Missoulian.

The 13 year old’s skull was fractured as a result of the incident at the fairgrounds on Aug. 3, but he has been released from the hospital, the newspaper reported.

Here’s what led up to the skull fracture, per the Missoulian:

Brockway was apprehended at the Superior fairgrounds on Saturday after several people saw the alleged assault. According to charging documents filed in Mineral County District Court on Tuesday, Brockway told Deputy Micah Allard the national anthem was playing before the rodeo got underway, and he noticed a young teenager still wearing his hat. Brockway told the deputy he asked the youth to remove his hat because it was disrespectful, to which the youth responded by saying “(expletive) you.”

Jasper, the defense attorney, said that while the president didn’t explicitly say to hurt someone, his client was still endangered. “Trump never necessarily says go hurt somebody, but the message is absolutely clear. I am certain of the fact that (Brockway) was doing what he believed he was told to do, essentially, by the president,” Jasper told the Missoulian.