AP wrote:ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Security detail for Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller handcuffed a journalist at a Miller town hall Sunday.
Tony Hopfinger, editor of the online Alaska Dispatch, tells KTUU TV that Miller security guards pushed him as he tried to question Miller. He says he pushed back and that guards then detained him, accusing him of trespassing at the public event.
Miller security guard William Fulton says Hopfinger was detained and escorted away after ignoring pleas to stop putting a camera in Miller's face and proceeding to "stalk" the Republican.
Miller has accused the Dispatch of focusing on negative stories about him. The Dispatch reported the conservative accepted farm subsidies in the '90s and is among the media outlets suing for access to his personnel record from his time as a government attorney.
Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - The voice of Interior Alaska since 1903
And the report from the paper in question
So the story is as you can gather, the private security arrests a reporter for trying to talk to Miller, people were pushed (Note the reporter says he pushed back) the private security tries to arrest him for trespassing on pubic land they call the cops, the cops show up and free the reporter.Alaska Daily News wrote: 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 on camera 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 him.
Hopfinger has not been charged but the owner of the Drop Zone, private security firm that's been providing Miller's security, accused Hopfinger of trespassing at the public event, a "town hall" meeting 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 up to the District Attorney's office to decide whether to prosecute.
Hopfinger, who was holding a small video camera, said he was attempting to get Miller to answer questions about why he was disciplined when he worked as a part-time attorney at the Fairbanks North Star Borough. He said he pushed the man away after he was surrounded by Miller supporters and security guards and felt threatened.
Fulton said the man who was shoved was not hurt.
Read more: http://www.adn.com/2010/10/17/1506223/m ... z12gXYcbi1
I'm very interested to see how this is going to go, and more importantly who the private security was. Private security after all can be anything from rent a mall cop to former military veterans to toughs to off duty police officers. I'm wondering which Miller's private security is.
Either way this could be a potentiality huge shit storm that will not decrease Millers chances of being elected at all. But could be hugely publicly embarrassing.
