Solivita resident hit, dragged by Trump-adorned golf cart outside of community
As part of the nationwide "No Kings" day of defiance created as a counter-response to a grand event for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army in Washington endorsed by President Trump, protests took place Saturday outside of the gates of Solivita along Cypress Parkway in Poinciana and near the Kissimmee Trail Bridge on John Young Parkway.
The Poinciana protest was attended by over a hundred demonstrators. According to organizer Dorothy Schwartz, “We are concerned about fascism coming to this country and that Trump and his administration are not following the constitution”.
Just prior to the start of the event, an attendee was struck right outside the Solivita guard gate by a golf cart driven by a woman and adorned with a Trump flag and sticker.
"She deliberately ran into my neighbor and I was a couple of steps back which forced her to slam into me," Melisa Nicolet said. "I am recovering from cancer surgery and I was scared to get knocked down. I put my hand up on her cart to brace myself."
She said she was clipped by the golf cart's awning, which dragged her to the ground and caused abrasions to her hands and whole right side. Neighbors who also attended helped her to HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital, where she was treated, and spoke to Polk County Sheriff's officers and filed a report.
"I have the nasty bloody photos, and am still picking gravel out of the bandages," Nicolet said Monday morning. "People in the development have to know this person."
Later in the afternoon in Kissimmee, hundreds more people protested — more peacefully — at the Kissimmee Trail Bridge on Saturday, voicing opposition to Trump’s actions.
Activists Weslee Porter and Jess Szczesiul said they were motivated by objection to Trump’s actions over the last several years: the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol, appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned the Roe v. Wade legislation in 2022 and the actions of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which slashed funding for numerous public services.
“It really started in February with DOGE,” Porter said. “The idea that somebody who led an insurrection and the deaths of countless American women could cut Medicaid and Social Security (moved us)."
Szczesiul cited the amount of non-English-speaking Hispanic residents of the area, particularly those who are undocumented. She shared a story about ICE agents visiting her daughter’s school, which had troubled her. So, she wanted the protest to show those residents that they had support in Osceola County if they needed it.
Protesters held such signs as, “I’d rather be at Disney World – Dump Trump", “History is watching" and “Where is the Humanity?”
The afternoon’s sweltering heat and humidity air was filled with car horns as passing vehicles voiced apparent support for the cause. Every so often, the protesters broke out into anti-Trump chants.
People had varying reasons for attending the protest, all related to a staunch opposition to the President and the feeling that the government had overstepped its bounds in the last few months.
One resident, who gave the name stage name, Autumn Stormcaller, said her grandfather was a chief in the Kumeyaay indigenous tribe, and Trump’s policies had made it hard for some members of the tribe to cross back over the border from Mexico – the tribe’s territory is half in Mexico and half in the U.S.
“All my reasoning led to this,” she said. “My grandfather wouldn’t stand for this.”
“I’m just tired of really everything Trump is doing,” said Orlando resident Kelly Berry, who drove down to Kissimmee because the protest’s 3 p.m. start time worked better for her than the 5 p.m. time for the Orlando one. “Particularly ICE – it’s frightening, you shouldn’t be able to arrest people or deport them without a warrant.”
Some protesters directed their anger at law enforcement policies as well as at Trump.
“People are scared. We’d have twice as many here if we didn’t have a sheriff talking about shooting you dead,” said Kissimmee resident Egan Carter, referring to Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey's comments that protesters would be killed “graveyard dead” if they damaged property or provoked law enforcement while protesting.
Steven Mangual, an activist with the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party waving a giant Puerto Rican flag, shared disappointment that local sheriff’s offices were working with ICE to deport undocumented immigrants.
“I know what Trump represents,” Mangual said. “He is doing his best to lead us to fascism. He is helping the rich one percent amass all the wealth while the 99%, all of us, are seeing less.”
Osceola County resident Nick De Armas was there with his wife and five and eight-year-old sons, and he said he was glad to show the boys “what peaceful protests look like.” De Armas said he hoped America would right its course and remember its past as a country of immigrants.
“My father came over from Cuba – I think it’s sad that people have such a short memory in this country, because as soon as you go back, most of these folks come from the same story,” he said. “Everybody packed up their stuff and came to America. And then it was hard for like six generations, but they forget why it was hard. That’s what breaks my heart. They think America is this thing you own, rather than this place you get an opportunity. I think they need to read and look back in history.”
Szczesiul said her hope was bring out as many people as possible to exercise free speech and “show Trump we’re not scared of him.” She also noted the communal effect of the protests.
“He’s brought us closer together,” she said. “I met so many friends because of this.”
