A Colorado man will spend New Year’s Eve behind bars, charged with bias crimes for allegedly trying to strangle a television reporter while saying, “This is Trump’s America now,” authorities said.
Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, was arrested Dec. 18 and charged with a series of charges stemming from the unprovoked assault of KJCT reporter Ja-Ronn Alex, 22, in Grand Junction, authorities said.
Egan was still being held on $20,000 bail at the Mesa County Jail Tuesday afternoon, online sheriff’s records showed.
Alex, who is a Pacific Islander, told investigators he was in the countryside when a Sunshine Rides taxi began following him, with the taxi driver shouting aggressive comments.
“Are you even an American citizen?” Egan allegedly yelled, according to an affidavit in the man’s arrest. “This is Trump’s America now! I’m a Marine and I swore to protect this country from people like you.”
Alex told his manager about the threatening suspect and she told him to return to the station so she could be inside the “safe building and get away from” Patrick as soon as possible, according to the affidavit.
But before Alex could reach the front door, Egan “chased him” and “was demanding Ja’Ronn’s identification and asking if he was American,” according to the affidavit.
The suspect then “knocked him to the ground causing injuries,” put the victim in a headlock and began choking him, according to the complaint.
Several station employees then ran to Alex’s side and removed Egan’s arms from Ja’Ronn’s neck and held him on the ground until authorities arrived, according to the affidavit.
Witnesses told investigators that Alex’s “face was turning red as the suspect was choking him” and that he was “losing the ability to breathe” during the attack that lasted between 45 and 90 seconds, according to the complaint.
Egan was charged with assault by strangulation, a hate crime, and harassment by ethnic intimidation, jail records showed.
He is due back in court Thursday.
Egan’s attorney and a representative of the U.S. Marine Corps could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) said it “strongly condemns the harassment and physical assault” of Alex.
“This act of violence against a journalist of color, motivated by racial bias, underscores the continued threats faced by journalists and people from marginalized communities,” the AAJA said in a statement Monday. “It highlights how racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric, which has increased during the pandemic, has led to physical attacks against members of AAPI communities.”
