Abused camerawoman not 'surprised'

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TAMP, Fla., Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The black CNN camerawoman abused at the Republican National Convention said she wasn't "surprised" when it happened.

Patricia Carroll was struck by peanuts and called an "animal" by two convention attendees. She told Journal-isms Thursday, "I hate that it happened, but I'm not surprised at all," the non-profit Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education reported.

Carroll, 34, agreed to be identified for the first time, but said she didn't want the incident to be used politically -- adding the abuse could have happened on the street or the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

After the attendees threw peanuts and told her, "This is what we feed animals," Carroll said she told fellow CNN personnel of the incident. The head of a state delegation, she isn't sure which, the report said, told her the abusers must have been alternates, not delegates.

Carroll said she wanted to thank CNN for backing her.

Many news outlets have asked her for interviews, Carroll said, but, "I was hoping this story would go away. I'm not interested in talking to any other media about this."