Photo: Getty Images
Police in Gulfport, Mississippi issued a warrant for the arrest of an Ohio man who verbally accosted a Black reporter live on-air on Monday morning (August 30).
MSNBC’s Shaquille Brewster was reporting live on the area’s conditions hours after Hurricane Ida made landfall when a man, identified by police as Benjamin Eugene Dagley verbally accosted him.
In the video clip, Dagley is seen pulling up onto the beach in a white pickup truck where Brewster was reporting before he gets out and runs toward the reporter yelling.
Dagley can be heard screaming “accurately” several times and he even gets into Brewster’s face before Brewster tosses it back to Craig Melvin.
Well, after such a public display caught on camera, it didn’t take authorities long to identify Dagley, with the help of citizens.
“We would like to thank the public for coming forward and helping identify Dagley,” the Gulfport Police Department tweeted. The department released a statement announcing the charges Dagley now faces –– including two counts of simple assault and one count of disturbing the peace.
Dagley was also in violation of the emergency curfew put in place by city officials and faces an additional charge for that.
On top of the charges from this incident, Gulfport authorities said they discovered Dagley was on probation in Cuyahoga County, Ohio and may have possibly violated the conditions of his probation which restricts his travel.
Police have asked for help in locating Dagley after revealing that he left the area.
Brewster took to Twitter to provide an update on how he and the crew are doing.
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