US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price attends a meeting on healthcare hosted by US President Donald J. Trump (not pictured) of the White House in Washington, DC on March, 13 2017. The House Republicans' bill known as the 'American Health Care Act', which is intended to replace the Affordable Care Act and endorsed by President Trump, has faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. Pool photo by Michael Reynolds/UPI |
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May 10 (UPI) -- Police arrested a reporter at West Virginia's State Capitol after he questioned Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, court records show.
Day Heyman, 54, a reporter with Public News Service, allegedly caused a disturbance by shouting questions at Price while the HHS secretary and Special Counsel to the President Kellyanne Conway visited the Charleston capitol building Tuesday afternoon. Heyman was charged with willful disruption of government processes, a misdemeanor. He was later released on $5,000 bond.
Price and Conway were in Charleston to discuss the opiod abuse issue with state officials.
Heyman said he awaited Price's entry to the capitol building and as Price's entourage walked through the building, he asked questions concerning the Republican healthcare bill in Congress and if it considers incidents of domestic violence as pre-existing conditions. He added that capitol police "decided I was just too persistent in asking this question and trying to do my job, and so they arrested me."
"This is my job, this is what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to find out if someone is going to be affected by this healthcare law. I think it is a question that deserves to be answered."
He added police informed him that he was "in the wrong place" before arresting him. The criminal complaint states that Heyman was arrested after "aggressively breaching the Secret Service agents to the point where the agents were forced to remove him."
There was no comment from state officials or from Price's group.
"I saw nothing in his behavior, I heard nothing that indicated any kind of aggressive behavior or anything like that," Valerie Woody of the West Virginia Citizen Action Group, a witness to the arrest, said. "Just simple, you know, trying to get somebody's attention and ask them a question. It seems to me there was no violation of anyone's space, or physicality, other than the arrest itself."
A statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia called the arrest "a blatant attempt to chill an independent, free press."
"The charges against him are outrageous, and they must be dropped immediately. By asking Tom Price and Kellyanne Conway whether domestic violence was considered a pre-existing condition under President [Donald] Trump's healthcare proposal, Dan Heyman was doing his job as a reporter. He was fulfilling that sacred role of the media in a democratic state of holding our elected officials accountable regarding the vital issues of the day. And for that, he was arrested ... the First Amendment will prevail. The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia stands ready to fight any attempt by the government to infringe upon our First Amendment rights."
