A Colorado man spent New Year's Eve behind bars, accused of bias crimes for allegedly trying to strangle a TV news reporter while saying, “This is Trump’s America now,” officials said.
Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, was arrested Dec. 18 and booked on a slew of charges stemming from the unprovoked assault on KJCT reporter Ja-Ronn Alex, 22, in Grand Junction, authorities said.
Egan was still being held in lieu of $20,000 bond at Mesa County Jail on Tuesday afternoon, online sheriff's records showed.
Alex, who is a Pacific Islander, told investigators he was out in the field when a Sunshine Rides taxi started following him, with the cab driver shouting aggressive remarks.
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"Are you even a U.S. Citizen?" Egan allegedly shouted, according to an affidavit in the man's arrest. "This is Trump's America now! I'm a Marine and I took an oath to protect this country from people like you."
Alex told his manager about the menacing suspect and she told him to return to the station, so he could be inside the "secure building and get away from" Patrick as soon as possible, the affidavit said.
But before Alex could make it to the front door, Egan "chased after him" and "was demanding Ja'Ronn's ID and asking him if he was an American," according to the affidavit.
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The suspect then "tackled him to the ground causing his injuries," and put the victim "into a headlock and began to strangle him," the complaint said.
Several employees of the station then rushed to Alex's side and pulled Egan's "arms from round Ja'Ronn's neck and held him on the ground until law enforcement arrived," according to the affidavit.
Witnesses told investigators that Alex's "face was turning red as he was being strangled" by the suspect and that he was "losing his ability to breathe" during the attack that lasted between 45 and 90 seconds, according to the complaint.
Egan was booked on suspicion of assault by strangulation, a bias motivated crime and harassment by ethnic intimidation, jail records showed.
He’s due back in court on Thursday.
Egan's attorney and a U.S. Marine Corps representative could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday.
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) said it "strongly condemns the harassment and physical assault on" Alex.
"This act of violence against a journalist of color, motivated by racial bias, underscores the ongoing threats faced by journalists and individuals from marginalized communities," AAJA said in a statement on Monday. "It highlights how racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric, which increased during the pandemic, has led to physical attacks on members of AAPI communities."
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