It was one of the highlighted moments during the U.S. election campaign: a 78-year-old white Donald Trump supporter sucker-punching a black man who was being escorted out of a Trump rally.
John Franklin McGraw was charged with assault and disorderly conduct after being caught on camera punching Rakeem Jones as he was being escorted out of a North Carolina rally in early March.
On Wednesday, both McGraw and Jones appeared before a judge to speak about the incident, which McGraw said was not racially motivated.
WATCH: Amateur video shows man being punched at Donald Trump rally
The Cumberland County sheriff’s office released a statement back in March saying the deputies leading Jones out of the arena had their eyes elsewhere at the time and did not see the assault take place.
However, after multiple videos of the assult surfaced online, investigators arrested McGraw.
McGraw apologized to Jones saying they had both been caught up in a political mess, according to CBS affiliate WNCN News.
READ MORE: Donald Trump supporter sucker-punches protester at rally
Jones accepted McGraw’s apology and his speech on how both men should come together to try to fix the country.
The courtroom erupted in applause as Jones and McGraw hugged out their differences.
McGraw was sentenced to one-year of unsupervised probation.
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