Stunner. Liberal Alaska Reporter Handcuffed & Detained For Harassing GOP Candidate & Assaulting Man at Town Hall
Posted by Jim Hoft on Monday, October 18, 2010, 5:06 AM
It’s not just about reporting the news anymore…
Alaska Dispatch founder and editor Tony Hopfinger sits with his wrists in handcuffs after being arrested by Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller’s private security detail Oct. 17, 2010. (ADM)
What a complete shock. A liberal reporter in Alaska was handcuffed and detained after he harassed Republican candidate Joe Miller after a town hall event. The reporter also assaulted a man.
The Anchorage Daily News reported:
The editor of the Alaska Dispatch website was arrested by U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller’s private security guards Sunday as the editor attempted to interview Miller at the end of a public event in an Anchorage school.
Tony Hopfinger was handcuffed by the guards and detained in a hallway at Central Middle School until Anchorage police came and told the guards to release Hopfinger.
Hopfinger has not been charged but the owner of the Drop Zone, the private security firm that’s been providing Miller’s security, accused Hopfinger of trespassing at the public event, a town hall sponsored by the Miller campaign. The owner, William Fulton, also said Hopfinger assaulted a man by shoving him.
Anchorage Police who responded to the call said they would leave it to the District Attorney’s office to decide whether to prosecute. They spent more than an hour taking statements, then left.
Can we call these media representatives unhinged leftists now?
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Published May 24, 2012 at 8:46 pm - 91 Comments
IOpian commented:
I’m not so sure this was a wise thing for Miller’s security to do. Under what authority do they detain someone?
m commented:
It look like the Miller campaign is in trouble.
Jon commented:
IOpian,
The same authority (citizens arrest) that all the code pink wackos claim they have when they try to arrest Karl Rove, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, ect. It’s the same authority that security at retail stores have when they catch a shoplifter. The same authority you have should you capture someone who commits a crime and hold them until the police arrive. Which is what they did, the person assaulted another person and was threatening Joe Miller. So the security personal had every right to detain and hold until police arrived.
Just_Saying commented:
The leftists (including Murkowski) smell blood up here in Alaska. Joe Miller is going through the filthiest campaign in memory.
.
Anchorage Activist commented:
Tony Hopfinger got off light. Back in 1994, when ESPN’s Jim Rome got snotty with quarterback Jim Everett, Everett gave him a beatdown. Also, don’t forget how Jim Gray deliberately disrespected Pete Rose in 1999.
I’m tired of these arrogant reporters flashing that uppity, snotty New York attitude and becoming the news rather than merely reporting the news like they’re supposed to. The vast majority of reporters in Alaska do NOT emulate the poor example set by Tony Hopfinger.
Rosemary Woodhouse commented:
Until we “go to the videotape” this, in all honesty, doesn’t bode well for the Miller campaign. Freedom of the press, First Amendment rights and everything we, as conservatives, stand for.
This sets the template for what is to come in the days ahead until the election. Our candidates and their staffers MUST be on guard. They will be baited. The left, knowing the tsunami that approaches, will act in desperation. Dirty tactics will abound. BEWARE!
donh commented:
I am tired of the take a beating turn the other cheeck crowd in the republican party. Its about time provacateurs posing as “press” be taken out when lacking professional conduct. Lee Harvey Oswald was shot through a gang of press agents, and the liberal fascist press is no less depraved than Jack Ruby.
Nice Deb commented:
How can a reporter be trespassing at a public event?
csm commented:
I think Mr. Miller should have gotten with his folks & drafted a reasonable answer to this work computer for political use charge. Avoiding it at all costs is not going to work. Welcome back, Sen. Murkowski.
neomom commented:
Maybe the repoter should have started screaming “Don’t Taze me Bro”! No matter what happens, short of a felony, the issues remain the same. The people have already decided who they are going to vote for. Miller is in. End of story.
William Teach commented:
Sounds like the unhinged people from the Alaska Dispatch, which is not a newspaper, wanted to manufacture an issue.
Insufficiently Sensitive commented:
Joe Miller’s security detail is beyond-the-pale dumb. They swallowed a flagrant bait hook, line and sinker. If this isn’t used against the Tea Parties in triple-forte, Beaufort-9, Richter-10 scale, someone on the left is asleep at the switch. Very bad for Miller, and very bad for the tea parties, once the MSM hurricane begins.
Aitch748 commented:
Frankly, I’m way past the point of caring how the leftist professional agitators in the media spin stuff like this. My first reaction to this story was to suppose that the son-of-a-b__ch reporter most likely had it coming. If that is the feeling of a lot of people up in Alaska, it could well be that Miller has nothing to worry about from this matter.
Valerie commented:
I have found from previous experience that news stories about trained people behaving completely unreasonably are easy to write: all you have to do is leave out some facts.
According to this article, the guards acted without sufficient provocation, toward someone who now claims to be a member of the press conducting an interview. But this guy is a blogger, not a member of the recognized press. Did he make the claim to be a reporter trying to get an interview afterward? Did he look or sound anything like a reporter at the time?
What else did this guy do to get handcuffed? Just because the paper failed to report it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
Finncrisp commented:
The Alaska Disspatch is is not a Newspaper? Maybe we need to wter board him ot find out who is funding him.
Tea Party Central commented:
The only thing they did wrong is they didn’t give a Jim Rome-style beatdown, as mentioned above. It’s time these hippie “reporters” got a “taze” of their own medicine! Miller has his positions on his website, and if the hippie has questions he should look there. Go Teaparty!
maraz commented:
I’m confused that Jim Hoft is saying that the reporters were harassing… when you view the VIDEO at the bottom of the link provided (scroll to bottom of page):
http://www.adn.com/2010/10/17/1506223/miller-security-guards-handcuff.html
The video suggests the Security were denying the rights of ordinary citizens… and these reporters seemed to be behaving very reasonably… so the Security seems to be the bad guys in my opinion and if they are working for the Miller campagin… than I’m worried that Miller is not a candidate for the constitution… PLEASE WATCH VIDEO AND TELL ME WHAT THE REPORTERS DID WRONG… left or right… the reporters seemed in the right to me
anonymous commented:
Miller was on Fox’s News Network and CNN today. Miller is acted so strange on the video. I believed it is Miller and the Miller campaign had something to do with it. He is not going to be on the debate with two other candidates tonight. Miller must be hiding something and he is not telling the truth. He is hurting the Republican Party.