2mo ago

Man accused of attacking TV reporter, saying 'This is Trump's America now'

abcnews.go.com Man accused of attacking TV reporter, saying 'This is Trump's America now'

Court documents show a Colorado man is facing possible bias-motivated charges for allegedly attacking a television news reporter after demanding to know whether he was a citizen, saying “This is Trump’s America now."

Summary

Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, was arrested in Colorado for allegedly attacking TV reporter Ja’Ronn Alex, demanding to know if Alex was a U.S. citizen and declaring, “This is Trump’s America now.”

Police say Egan followed Alex’s vehicle for 40 miles, confronted him at his news station, and tackled him, putting him in a headlock that left Alex struggling to breathe.

The attack is being investigated as a possible bias-motivated crime.

Egan faces charges of assault and harassment, with prosecutors yet to file formal charges.

103 comments

The attack is being investigated as a possible bias-motivated crime.
The levels of avoiding saying "hate-crime"
- You have to do some tap dancing these days to avoid saying Trump = hate.
- Well in the USA white supremacists can't commit hate crimes since hate is their religion and their church is the state
  
  But only when republicans are in power. When democrats are the state is the enemy.
- After ABC News just ponied up $15M to settle that Trump lawsuit, it's no surprise.
  
  Sure, but it's fucking pathetic
- It’s only terrorism if you threaten wealthy/powerful people.

They used to be called “hate crimes”. Why are we soft peddling violent racism like this
- Because this is Trump’s America now :(
  
  But I thought we told things like they are now, and euphemisms were woke?
  _/s
  
  I think that's a bit like thinking Ronald McDonald owns McDonald's.
  Like nah, man, that's just the clown they put on the adverts.
- It's terrorism, actually, since it is politically motivated.
  
  Terrorism and hate crimes are nowhere near mutually exclusive, though. This is a case of both.
- right? but then again, this is fuckin ABC news. Not the most reliable source for non-mushmouth platitudes.

Alex, who had been out reporting, then drove back to his news station in the city. After he got out of his vehicle, Egan chased Alex as he ran toward the station's door and demanded to see his identification, according to the document laying out police’s evidence in the case. Egan then tackled Alex, put him in a headlock and “began to strangle him,” the affidavit said.
He followed him, chased him down and proceeded to strangle him, and they still needed to determine if this was a "bias-motivated crime".
- He said it - "it’s Trumps USA now". Get ready for a whole lot of fecal matter hitting the air circulation device…
- Egan, who was driving a taxi, pulled up next to Alex at a stoplight and, according to an arrest affidavit, said something to the effect of: “Are you even a U.S. citizen? This is Trump's America now! I'm a Marine and I took an oath to protect this country from people like you!”
  Yeah still too early to tell isn't it
  
  Prosecuting Attorney's office: "not enough evidence"
- and they still needed to determine if this was a "bias-motivated crime".
  As is always the case, police need to be as neutral as possible in their public statements so they don't accidentally cause a mistrial by saying something that could be perceived as bias.
  By not calling the guy out as a racist piece of shit, they're making sure the judge won't be forced to dismiss the case.

He followed him for 40 miles
40
That’s insane.
- These are the people that vote for Trump.
- He tackled a man.
  Because of his purported ethnicity.
  That's insane.
- That's as many as four tens.
  And that's terrible.

didn't realize we called racism "bias-motivation" now
- Exactly! I kept wondering why they're not calling it a hate crime.
  
  We hide behind obfuscated language when we dont want to say things.
- « It seems the physical interaction was motivated by a slight difference of opinion »

He'll be charged with terrorism...right?
- If he attacked a CEO yes, otherwise no.
- Come Jan 20, he'll be pardoned.
  
  It happened in CO, and is a state crime. Trump can't pardon state convictions.
  
  Most likely true
- Lol, no.
- I literally came here to say this. Im so happy someone beat me to the punch lmao.

But a woman who got mad for having a claim denied for health care coverage THAT SHE PAYS FOR and saying something in anger, well that's a big problem, but stalking someone for 40 miles and strangling them is cool, right conservatives?
- 40 miles... today's crazy to follow someone that distance.
  
  Ack miles.

What a racist asshole.
- More like psychopath with a range of untreated mental illnesses who should be locked up for everyone's safety including his own. If only locking him up meant he'd get treated and not trained into something worse.
  
  I’m curious what makes you think he is mentally ill and not just a raging racist. Cause I’m mentally I’ll, and I don’t try to strangle people who look different from me in a rage.
  
  Uh I'm pretty sure "racist asshole" covered it, no need to imply that mental illness causes racism (cause it doesn't)
- What a ~~racist~~ BIASED asshole!

I wish the man wasn't right. But he is. This is Trump's America now and this is the new normal and the lügenpresse will be amongst the first victims.
- This should be a thing. Every time something horrific happens it needs to be labeled as "Trump's America."
  And I don't mean things like natural disasters. Increases in hate, poverty, brutality. Things that Trump stands for and causes.
  
  I'd argue natural disasters related to climate change could also fall under "Trump's America"

Wait, I think I've figured it out! All minorities need to get jobs at health insurance companies ASAP! That way any magats who threaten or attack you will be prosecuted as terrorists going after the health insurance companies.
- No no no, you're confused. The field the company is in doesn't matter. What matters is if that you get to a C-level position.
  
  Also the amount of melanin you have, as both Luigi, and the person being Luigied.
  
  But if you make it to a c-level position as a minority in a company the same crowd will spend all day everyday talking about how you're a DEI hire.
  So heads racists, tails bigots I guess.
  
  I'm thinking of the woman who said over the phone in response to her claim being denied, "deny, delay depose, you're next" or something close to that. She was talking to a regular employee at the health insurance company and was immediately arrested and charged, could get something like 10 years in prison. So you don't have to be a high-level employee.
  edit: rechecked the details and found:
  Boston was ultimately charged with threats to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism, with a bond set at $100,000, as first reported by local station WFLA. That's a second degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
- To really make Republican heads explode, everyone who's not a Republican needs a small arsenal of AR-15s.

"This is Trump's America now"
Last I checked, Biden is still the acting president for another week and a half. Egan is both a bigot and a fucking dumbass.
- Isn't it another 3 weeks?
  
  Yeah, my bad. I should have checked the calendar instead of trusting my sense of time. It feels a lot more like the new year than it actually is...
  
  Yes.
  
  Still too fucking soon.
- You'd think Trump was already in office though. I've been seeing headlines detailing Trump's and musk's political maneuver's ever since he won the election. They're already calling shots for the gop, setting things up for the day they are in complete control. Biden doing fuck-all at this point really doesn't help matters either. I would hope he'd at least make things difficult for Trump's transition but i don't think that's happening.
  
  I've been seeing headlines detailing Trump's and musk's political maneuver's ever since he won the election
  Since before the election.
  Trump told Republicans to kill the bipartisan border bill long before the election.
  
  Why would he? This is what America wants. People either voted for trump or were too fucking lazy to vote at all.
- He's just ahead of the curve, get ready for more of this stupid dangerous stuff soon.

This shit is only going to get more frequent, and a lot worse very soon.

Buy (or 3d print) a gun for your own safety if you are a minority.
- Even if you're not a minority, if you're not a redhat, you're a target.
- I honestly would not trust a 3D printed gun. Even after some successful uses, there have still been plenty of fuckups.
  I think guns are a case where precision machine tooling is a good idea.
  Edit: Am I really getting downvoted for suggesting if people get a gun, they get one that was made with precision milling? Would you downvote me for saying people probably shouldn't assemble their own cars out of 3D printed parts either?
  
  Yeah, you dont wanna have to rack the slide after every shot, like some goddam noob.

What a doofus... we all know this is Elon's America now anyway.

As a former Marine, fuck this guy. He’s so lost his way with regard to what he’s actually supposed to be standing for.
- I appreciate former Marines like yourself coming out across the socials to say this. We should be normalizing the good of what you volunteered to do, and its purpose. These crazies need to learn what they apparently completely missed, and that they are dishonoring the military position they served.