U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was on the receiving end of a projectile allegedly thrown from the crowd at Monday’s World Series championship parade for the Houston Astros, Houston-based media outlets reported.
Cruz, who’s from Houston, was among the several participants in the celebratory event – but unlike the team, the marching bands from the University of Houston (UH) and Texas Southern University (TSU), and others – the junior senator wasn’t well-received along the three-mile route.
Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported that authorities arrested a 33-year-old man and charged him with assault.
The unidentified paradegoer is accused of hurling a hard seltzer at the lawmaker in the vicinity of Smith Street and McIlhenny Street in Houston’s Midtown neighborhood, KTRK reported.
According to the station, Cruz rode on the back of a Humvee at the time of the subject incident.
Much of the crowd gathered on Smith jeered and booed the senator, who attended a few of the Astros’ postseason and World Series games.
“The beer can struck the senator in the chest/neck area,” the Houston Police Department (HPD) said on Twitter. “The senator did not require medical attention. Nearby HPD officers arrested the male without further incident. He was taken to jail and faces assault charges."
Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported that a bystander captured the incident on video.
HPD said that it’ll release the suspect’s name and mugshot after formal charges against him are filed.
Cruz took to Twitter to thank law enforcement for their “quick action.”
“I’m also thankful that the clown who threw his White Claw had a noodle for an arm,” the senator shared.
Houston Daily reported that with several area school districts having cancelled classes on Monday, officials estimated that the parade’s attendance figure could topple that of nearly one million people recorded during the festivities for the Astros’ first Fall Classic triumph in 2017.