State Senate Candidate Gets Face Stapled

CHICAGO, IL - An Illinois State Senate candidate claims he was attacked outside his campaign office Sunday night.

Illinois State Senate 4th District Democratic candidate Robert Zwolinski posted bloody photos of his face on social media following the alleged incident, which has been disputed in media reports between Zwolinski and his wife and Frank Avila, a lawyer for the two alleged attackers.

Both sides agree two people - a man and a woman - were putting up campaign signs for incumbent Illinois 4th District State Rep. Cynthia Soto, Zwolinski’s opponent in the upcoming Democratic primary, near Zwolinski’s campaign office in Chicago’s Ukranian Village neighborhood. Zwolinski claims the signs were being posted on his office property, while Avila says they were being put up in a vacant lot next door.

Zwolinski claims it was the unidentified pair who initiated the physical contact, while Avila maintains it was Zwolinski who was the guilty party.

“6 stitches, no broken face bones. Just a nose crack,” Zwolinski wrote on Facebook the night of the alleged incident, claiming the two used the same staple gun they were using to put up the signs on his face. “I'll live and will be on the streets tomorrow but what really gets me is that young lady is very dangerous.

Avila, in an interview with DNAinfo, called the incident a “false flag” and “a media stunt trying to draw people to a flailing campaign.” The 4th District includes an array of neighborhoods on Chicago’s North Side, including West Town, Humboldt Park and Ukranian Village.

Zwolinski has filed a police report.