The Gwinnett man accused last month of placing "I love Trump" bumper stickers on a local politico's car and then chasing her in his vehicle was arrested Thursday afternoon on a misdemeanor charge tied to the incident.
WIlliam Thomas Dunaway, 57, was booked into the Gwinnett County jail on a criminal trespass charge taken out by the solicitor general’s office, which prosecutes misdemeanors.
Solicitor General Brian Whiteside said he considered the totality of the circumstances before deciding to file charges in response to the July 15 incident.
“If you break the law here, I’m going to put you in jail,” Whiteside said.
It was unclear if Dunaway had an attorney. Online records listed his bond at $650.
He was released a few hours after his arrest.
According to Sharon Wood, the first vice-chair of the Gwinnett County Democratic Party, she was leaving a Lawrenceville grocery store when she noticed someone had put a pair of stickers supporting President Donald Trump on her car. They were covering up other stickers promoting former candidate for governor Stacey Abrams and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Wood said she then heard a man yelling across the parking lot calling her a traitor.
Wood, 70, said she drove away but soon realized that the man was following her in his work van. She said she was followed for miles until she made a sharp left turn into a strip mall parking lot.
The van drove past, honking.
Wood and other Democratic officials, including multiple state legislators, held a press conference pushing for an investigation a few days later.
“It is good to hear that the legal process is working and I’m hopeful that he will be held accountable for his actions,” Wood told the AJC on Thursday. “I’m grateful to the Gwinnett County Solicitor’s Office for pursuing justice in this case.”
Phone calls to Dunaway’s Lawrenceville business, Tommy’s Electric and Lighting, were not answered Thursday afternoon. A person who answered the phone there last month denied Wood’s allegations.
“It’s not accurate,” the man said before hanging up. “That’s how the left acts. I’m not like them.”
