ACLU of West Virginia Periscope screenshot
Dan Heyman (left) with his lawyer in a Periscope screenshot
A reporter in West Virginia was arrested while trying to ask health secretary Tom Price and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway questions during an appearance at the state capitol, local NBC affiliate WSAZ reported Tuesday.According to a criminal complaint, Dan Heyman was accused of "willful disruption of governmental processes" after Heyman "aggressively breach[ed] the Secret Service agents to the point where the agents were forced to remove him a couple of times from the area walking up the hallway in the main building of the Capitol," WSAZ reported.
A local American Civil Liberties Union branch held a news conference after Heyman's arrest. Video of the conference was posted on Facebook.
Heyman said of the incident: "I was holding [my] phone out and trying to get as close to Secretary Price as possible for obvious reasons, and that was all there was to it. And I was yelling out questions [about pre-existing conditions under Trumpcare]."
Heyman explained that he was working on a story about whether or not domestic violence would be a pre-existing condition. "At some point [Capitol police] decided I was just too persistent in asking this question in doing my job, so they arrested me."
"I was doing my job. We want these questions answered, we as a society," Heyman said. He added that Price never answered his questions.
Heyman works for the Public News Network, and told reporters this was his first arrest over his 30-year long career as a journalist writing for multiple news outlets.
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