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President of Richmond Food Truck Association resigns after participating in D.C. rally that led to attack on Capitol

Karri Peifer 23 hrs ago

The president of the Richmond Food Truck Association has resigned after participating in Wednesday’s rally in Washington, D.C., that led to a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump storming the U.S. Capitol and the deaths of five people.

“The now-former president of the Richmond Food Truck Association made the decision to participate in the rally in Washington, DC, that led to abhorrent violence against our Capitol and American democracy,” the association wrote in a Facebook post Thursday night. “Collectively, the remaining members of the RFTA have demanded and received the resignation of Billy Metzger as the president of the RFTA.”

Metzger is the owner and operator of the Curbside Creations food truck and until Thursday was the head of the 7-year-old association of nearly 50 Richmond-based mobile food vendors. It was his second year as president. ... “What a day ... I made [it] to the front doors of the capital [sic] took a few flash bangs but missed the pepper spray and rubber bullets,” Metzer wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post that included images of the crowd and the Capitol.

In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Friday, Metzger acknowledged that he attended the rally, but said that he never reached the Capitol building, entered it, or even breached any fencing erected around the place where inside lawmakers began the process of counting the Electoral College votes confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. ... “I was there at the rally. And that’s it. I never crossed a fence. I was never anywhere the public wasn’t supposed to be,” Metzger said. ... He said his Facebook post characterizing his location as at “the front doors” of the Capitol was “a horrible choice of words” and “a horrible post.” “[I was there] just to support my freedoms. I think everyone has the right.” ...“I attended a peaceful rally. I didn’t know it wasn’t going to be a peaceful rally,” Metzger said.

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kpeifer@richmond.com

(804) 649-6321

Twitter: @KarriPeifer