Florida congressman assaulted at party during Sundance Film Festival

Police in Utah arrested a man accused of assaulting a Florida congressman over the weekend at a Sundance film festival after the man allegedly made racist comments to several patrons at a Creative Artists Agency party.

Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Florida) posted on X that he was “fine” after being punched by the man, identified by police as 28-year-old Christian Young.

“I was attacked by a man at the Sundance Film Festival who told me Trump was going to deport me and then punched me in the face,” Frost wrote in an X-rated post on Saturday. “He was heard shouting racist slurs as he drove away drunk. Individual was arrested.”

Frost, 29, has the distinction of being the first member of Generation Z elected to the U.S. Congress. Born in Orlando, Frost is serving his second term representing a district in central Florida. He is Afro-Latino.

On his website, Frost noted his “diverse heritage with Puerto Rican, Lebanese and Haitian roots.” He was adopted at birth “by a Kansas-born musician-producer and…special education teacher who immigrated to the United States from Cuba as a child in the 1960s.”

A person who was at the party told the Times that the suspect disrupted the party and said “offensive things” to several partygoers, including in the men’s room, before allegedly assaulting the congressman.

Security personnel removed the suspect from the premises, the source said. The police quickly arrived.

Park City Police Lt. Danielle Snelson said officers responded to a report of an assault just after midnight at the High West Saloon on Park Avenue — the location of the Friday night party hosted by CAA.

“Upon arrival, officers conducted an investigation and determined that Christian Young had illegally entered a private party after being turned away because he did not have an invitation,” Snelson wrote in an email. “Once inside the saloon, Young assaulted Florida Congressman Maxwell Frost and a woman who was attending the private event.”

Frost’s companion has not been identified.

After the incident, the congressman was seen speaking with Park City police officers outside the restaurant. In his X post, Frost wrote: “Thank you to venue security and the Park City Police for their assistance with this incident. »

The suspect was arrested and booked into the Summit County Jail in Utah on charges of aggravated burglary and two counts of simple assault.

Axios reported that County Judge Richard Mrazik ordered Young held without bail due to “compelling evidence” that he might flee the area and would “pose a significant danger” to the community.

“I am horrified by the attack on Congressman Maxwell Frost. I am grateful that he is okay, but dismayed that this terrifying assault took place,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X. “The perpetrator must be aggressively pursued. Hate and political violence have no place in our country.”

The altercation occurred several hours before the fatal shooting of an intensive care nurse in Minneapolis by a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Saturday’s shooting sparked widespread outrage. This was the third shooting in Minneapolis by ICE agents in the past three weeks, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told CBS News.

On Sunday, a small group of about a dozen anti-ICE protesters marched down Park City’s Main Street, urging festival-goers to join them.

Staff writer Samantha Masunaga contributed to this report.