Incident details
- Date of incident
- September 18, 2019
- Assailant
- Politician
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
- Equipment damaged
- Actor
- Politician
Equipment Damage
A screengrab shows Carmel Town Board member Mike Barile, center, speaking at a public meeting in Mahopac, New York, on Sept. 18, 2019. At the meeting, Barile assaulted reporter David McKay Wilson and broke his cellphone.
Reporter David McKay Wilson’s cellphone was broken after an elected official grabbed it from his hand and threw it to the ground outside a public meeting in Mahopac, New York, on Sept. 18, 2019.
Wilson, a columnist for The Journal News in the state’s lower Hudson Valley, was covering a Carmel Town Board meeting when board member Michael Barile accused him of biased reporting. Barile also accused Wilson of approaching and questioning members of his family.
Wilson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Barile was so upset about his reporting that he approached him and started yelling in his face.
“He swiped my phone out of my hand,” said Wilson, who had been recording the confrontation. “He stole my property. He stole my reporting equipment and destroyed it.”
Wilson was unable to recover the video after the damage. He later filed a complaint with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department and also accused the official of throwing a plastic water bottle at his head.
The confrontation came two days after Putnam County issued Barile a violation for illegally hooking up his restaurant to the county’s sewer system. Wilson had spent months reporting on the story and the resulting legal dispute.
He had also reported on a conflict of interest in the town’s purchase of land where Barile had been storing huge piles of rocks at no cost.
In the phone incident, Barile was initially charged with grand larceny, criminal mischief and harassment. The first two charges were later dismissed, and Barile pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct, the Journal News reported. He also paid full restitution for the damage to Wilson’s cellphone.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
