(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Former Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., reportedly rear-ended a highway-patrol officer while driving aggressively on interstate U.S. 75 South in Florida on Monday, according to the New York Post.
The story broke activist Alethea Shapiro, who goes by the name @swifties4palestine on TikTok, published a lengthy post detailing how he tailgated then sped past her. A few minutes later, she drove past his damaged car and saw him apologizing profusely to the officers.
@swifties4palestine Im SHOOK😳😩🤯 I was driving on i75S towards Miami in the left lane and this black tinted sports car was tailgating me relentlessly. I accelerated ahead and moved to the right lane in front of a tractor trailer to let the black sports car by. 5 mins later the highway comes to a complete stop, I swerve to the side so no one rear ends me and slow to a halt. Suddenly the car door opens and a man in a wheelchair rolls out. At the same moment I have to navigate around his car and I look ahead to see the officer exiting from his rear ended vehicle holding his neck in the left lane as well. I pulled over to the right shoulder lane and stopped to ask if everyone was ok and to offer assistance. I couldnt believe my eyes. It occured to me that former CONGRESSMAN CAWTHORNE from NC was the black CAR that stormed by me in an angry road rage tantrum. I spoke to the cop to see if he was ok as he was quite stunned & kept reaching for his neck. He said he was ok, asked if I was a witness, (I wasnt, I must have been 30 seconds behind) and I gave them water as i didnt know what else to do after he thanked me for stopping. As I drove away & replayed the surreal scene in my head I realized it was the same car who was erratically & aggressively driving. Unbelievably scary. #highwayaccident #i75southbound #i75 #floridastatetrooper #madisoncawthorn #congressmancawthorne #congressmanmadisonhawthorn #roadrage #officer #cop #rearended ♬ original sound – swifties4palestine
“Suddenly the car door opens and a man in a wheelchair rolls out,” she wrote.
“I pulled over to the right shoulder lane and stopped to ask if everyone was okay and to offer assistance,” she continued. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. It occurred to me that former CONGRESSMAN CAWTHORNE from NC was the black car that stormed by me in an angry road rage tantrum.”
Shapiro posted the summary and video to Twitter on Monday evening, and she appeared to have spent Tuesday writing a lengthy thread of every journalist and news organization she could think of.
Reports confirmed that the officer in the police car at the time of the accident incurred a minor neck injury; he received treatment at a nearby hospital.
Officials neglected to confirm the identity of the driver, only that he was a 28 year old male from Cape Coral, Florida driving a black Mercedes.
Lee County property records revealed that Cawthorn, 28, owns a home in Cape Coral.
A search of court records for Cawthorn pulled up five cases, four of which were related to handicapped parking violations.
A separate traffic infraction from Dec. 27 of last year cited Cawthorn only for having no proof of insurance.
There was no report posted for the incident in question.
Cawthorn lost use of his legs after suffering a car accident at 18 years old, and has been wheelchair-bound ever since.
Cawthorn, who was elected to Congress at the age of 25, suffered a primary defeat after just one term after his outspoken America First politics made him a target of a Democrat super-PAC that set out to smear him with salacious innuendo.
However, his criticism of the darker side of politics might also have made him enemies within the GOP after he blew the whistle on alleged drug use and orgies attended by congressional colleagues.
“The sexual perversion that goes on in Washington, I mean, being kind of a young guy in Washington, average age is probably 60 or 70,” Cawthorn said in a podcast interview in 2022.
“I look at a lot of these people, a lot of them that I’ve looked up to through my life—I’ve always paid attention to politics—then all of a sudden you get invited to, ‘Oh hey we’re going to have a sexual get together at one of our homes, you should come,’” he added.
Headline USA reached out to Cawthorn for comment about the recent incident and will update with any response.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
