Man who accosted NBC reporter during Hurricane Ida coverage arrested
The man who was seen on live TV accosting an NBC reporter during Hurricane Ida coverage has been arrested and hit with assault charges.
Police said Thursday that 54-year-old Benjamin Eugene Dagley of Ohio was taken into custody and charged with simple assault, disturbing the peace, and violating an emergency curfew, The New York Times reports. Dagley, according to the Times, had already been on probation over a break-in incident in Ohio.
"This violent fugitive was attempting to flee from his charges in Gulfport but the swift work of our task force members resulted in a timely arrest," U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott said, per NBC News. "Task force members received information that Dagley was still driving in his white truck bearing an Ohio license plate. Task force members located the truck in the parking lot and subsequently arrested him after watching him exit a store in the shopping plaza."
Earlier this week, NBC correspondent Shaquille Brewster was reporting live on the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Mississippi when a man could be seen parking his truck to approach the reporter, getting close to him and screaming in his face to "report accurately." MSNBC quickly cut back to the studio, where anchor Craig Melvin said, "There's a lot of crazy out there." On Instagram, Brewster later wrote, "Our team joked about it afterwards, but it was without a doubt as scary for us as it was for you all watching."
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