A man was arrested Monday evening after an assault at a Pamela Evette campaign event in downtown Greer, where officers said the confrontation unfolded just one day before the South Carolina primary election. Police charged 28-year-old Blake Kirsch with third-degree assault and battery after he was taken into custody at the scene.
The arrest gives the race an unwanted jolt at the start of primary week, when campaign events are meant to project discipline and momentum. Instead, officers working the event along Randall Street said Kirsch ran up to a person holding a megaphone and ripped it from the person’s hands around 6 p.m., then carried it to a group of officers as the exchange escalated.
Greer police said one officer told Kirsch to return the megaphone and warned him he could face charges. The person holding the megaphone then approached officers and asked that charges be filed, saying Kirsch touched him. Police said they reviewed bystander video before taking Kirsch into custody and issuing him a citation at the scene before he was taken to the Greer City Jail.
The incident matters because it happened at a political event hosted by Evette’s campaign, not at a neutral public gathering, and it unfolded within hours of a major election deadline. The campaign later said Kirsch is not, and has never been, an employee of the campaign and is no longer a member of Evette’s finance committee, a distinction that matters because the event itself was still run under her campaign’s banner.
Evette said she was “really saddened” when she learned about the incident Monday night and told reporters Tuesday morning that she is a mother first and does not tolerate violence on any level. She also said Kirsch was not employed by the campaign. Her response puts the campaign in the position of separating itself from the man arrested while still facing the fact that the disturbance happened at one of its own events.
What remains unclear is Kirsch’s exact relationship to the scene beyond his former role on the finance committee. Police have not said whether any further court date has been set, and the campaign has not announced any additional action tied to the arrest. For now, the episode stands as a public disruption on the eve of the primary, one that Evette was forced to answer for as soon as the race entered its final stretch.
