(JustPatriots.com)- Joseph Arcidiacono, the Houston Astros fan who was arrested after throwing a beer can at Texas Senator Ted Cruz during the Astros’ championship parade on Monday claimed that he wasn’t trying to harm the Republican senator.
In a statement posted on Twitter by his attorney, Arcidiacono argued that he had hoped Senator Cruz would catch the beer can and “chug” it.
Cruz rode in the championship parade celebrating the Astros’ World Series victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Video footage of the incident shows a beer can flying toward Cruz, striking him in the upper chest.
The 33-year-old Arcidiacono claimed that tossing the can wasn’t “political violence” or “aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.” Instead, he threw a can from his cooler to the passing Senator Cruz without realizing “how it would be perceived” until security personnel reacted.
In the statement, Arcidiacono argued that fans toss cans of beer to people in championship parades “all the time” to try and get them “to chug,” calling it “a widely known thing.”
According to the statement, the night before the parade, Arcidiacono texted a friend saying it was his “dream” to toss a beer can to one of the Astros players, adding, “Doubt it would happen” but “that would be epic.”
In his statement, he also pointed out that another fan tossed a beer to Astros pitcher Ryne Stanek who caught the can and chugged the beer, describing it as “stupid, good fun.” The statement concluded that for Arcidiacono, it ended up “as not fun.”
At the time of the incident, the Houston Police Department said in a tweet that Senator Cruz needed no medical attention after getting his with the can. While the police said the fan threw a beer can, Houston channel KTRK later reported that Arcidiacono had thrown “two full, unopened cans of hard seltzer.
In a tweet on Monday, Cruz thanked the Houston police and expressed gratitude that Arcidiacono “had a noodle for an arm.”
