A Colorado man has been arrested for attacking a local reporter and demanding to know his citizenship status, saying “this is Trump’s America now.”
According to the Associated Press KKCO/KJCT reporter Ja’Ronn Alex was driving a news vehicle earlier this month in the Delta area when Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, began trailing him in a taxi which he was driving at the time.
Egan pulled up to Alex’s car at a stoplight and started berating him by asking “Are you even a U.S. citizen?”
“This is Trump’s America now!” Egan told Alex according to the arrest affidavit. “I’m a Marine and I took an oath to protect this country from people like you!”
Alex said Egan followed him back to the station where he chased him after he got out of his vehicle and demanded to see his identification. Egan then tackled Alex, put him in a headlock and “began to strangle him” until he was restrained by employees.
Alex’s co-workers who witnessed the incident said the reporter was struggling to breathe during the attack, which was partially captured on surveillance video, AP noted.
Alex told police that he believed he had been followed and attacked because he is Pacific Islander.
Egan was arrested and is facing charges of bias-motivated crimes, 2nd degree assault by strangulation, and harassment. He is set to appear in court next week.
In the meantime, Egan has been suspended from Sunshine Rides, the taxi company he was driving for, pending a full investigation, the company’s General Manager Kelly Millan said in a statement.
“This type of behavior has no place in our society and I strongly condemn it,” Millan said. “I deeply regret the harm and disruption this has caused the victim, his family and co-workers.”
[Featured image: Patrick Thomas Egan, 39. PHOTO VIA MESA COUNTY SHERIFF DEPARTMENT]
