A mob surrounded and assaulted journalist Michael Tracey Tuesday evening on the Ithaca Commons during a ‘Jane Doe’ protest.
“Some lady whacked me with some kind of stick or rod, it was tough to tell in the middle of the mob,” Tracey wrote on Twitter. “I unfortunately missed the part where they were all surrounding me and chanting “rapist” because somebody had just bashed into my phone and it stopped recording for a bit.” Tracey has been critical of the handling of the Cornell 7 case, the veracity of the alleged victim Jane Doe’s claims and the hysteria surrounding the incident.
Tracey shouted as he was being physically attacked in the below YouTube video.
Tracey posted a 17 minute portion of the confrontation on his Twitter and YouTube. As the mob engaged in acts of assault and attempts at intimidation, an Ithaca Police Officer (IPD) told Tracy he was “making people feel uncomfortable” and asked him to leave.
“How am I making anyone uncomfortable?” Tracey asked.
“I don’t know,” IPD officer Karolina Stypulkowski said.
“You don’t know,” Tracey responded. “And how do you have that thought?”
“Because clearly people don’t want you here,” Stypulkowski said.
The Commons are a public space, with anyone free to come and go as they please.
Tracey identified one of his assailants on Twitter by name, including what appears to be a mugshot photo. The individual, Lindsay Ian Cole, describes himself on Instagram as “Leftist. Sober. Poly.” His Instagram story of the incident stated, “This is the most restraint I’ve shown in my life.”
“He’s apparently the companion / “bodyguard” of fake “Epstein Survivor” Jess Michaels, who joined the mob against me,” Tracey wrote. Tracey has also been critical of the Epstein case and claims of alleged victims.
Tracey later agreed to leave the area under police escort at their request, as a courtesy.
Tracey had recently visited Ithaca last Wednesday, attending the Ithaca Common Council during their October 7 meeting. During the meeting, a moratorium on Cornell student event permitting was voted into place in response to the alleged gang rape suffered by “Jane Doe” at the hands of the Cornell 7. Tracey had become a focal point of the Cornell 7 case following his revealing the identity of the accuser, stating he was doing so as a matter of journalistic principle.
Tracey’s public speaking request card was found folded up in the trash. He then proceeded to directly address the council, condemning the resolution for repeating Jane Doe’s legal filing word for word and calling on Mayor Robert Cantelmo to step down.
“The portion highlighted in yellow is literally just a straight-up copy-and-paste of the civil complaint filed last month by the huckster money-grubbing self-proclaimed “Epstein Maxwell Survivor Lawyer” Thomas Giuffra,” Tracey wrote on his Substack.
