Sarah Palin Suggests Arrested Son Track Suffers From PTSD

She tells Trump rally Track the Army vet "came back a bit different.”

ByABC News
January 20, 2016, 4:03 PM

— -- Speaking at a rally today for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin suggested that her son Track, who was arrested this week for a domestic violence incident, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I guess it’s kind of an elephant in the room, because my own family -- going through what we’re going through today,” Palin said at the event in Oklahoma alluding to Track’s arrest. “My son, a combat vet, having served in a Stryker Brigade for you all, America in the war zone; but my son, like so many others, they came back a bit different.”

She added, “I can certainly relate with other families who feel these ramifications of some PTSD.”

Track Palin, 26, was arrested Monday night in Wasilla, Alaska. An Iraq veteran who enlisted in the Army Sept. 11, 2007, Track Palin was charged with three misdemeanors, including assault, interference with the reporting of a domestic violence crime and weapons possession while intoxicated, according to Alaska court records.

He allegedly punched and kicked his girlfriend before she says she thought he might shoot himself, according to the criminal complaint.

It is unclear whether he has entered a plea, and a family lawyer did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

The former Alaska governor, who endorsed Trump Tuesday, also suggested that President Obama deserved some of the blame for the psychological condition of veterans.

“They come back hardened. They come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military, so sacrificially have given to this country, and that starts from the top,” Palin said, adding, “For the sake of America’s finest that we have that commander in chief who will respect them and honor them.”

She went on to encourage voters to choose Trump because he will “treat our vets better than illegal immigrants.”