Democratic Thug attacks Telegraph photographer attacked after news conference

And, they call us Extremist. Another Democratic Nazi Brownshirt attacks an innocent photographer.

Maybe he took lessons from Orlando Bloom.

A man apparently accompanying state Sen. Robert Brown to a hurriedly called Thursday news conference attacked and injured Telegraph photographer Woody Marshall at Macon City Hall, prompting conflicting stories from those involved.

Reached shortly after the incident, Brown said, “The person in question is not associated with me. I’ve got one person on my staff, and that was not him. This is not something I would be associated with. I did not physically see the altercation. I do not know the person, nor is he associated with me. Other than that, I’ve no specific comment on this matter.”

 But Brown clearly knew the assailant’s father, and the assailant himself said he was acting in defense of Brown.

Brown, a Macon Democrat and the Senate minority leader, called the news conference at noon to issue a statement about his dispute with state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, about inflammatory but vague comments Brown made during the taping of a TV show earlier in the week. He walked into City Hall with two men trailing a few feet behind. Serving to muddle events further, all three are named Brown: a middle-aged man in glasses and a dark jacket, later identified as C.J. Brown; and a very large younger man in a red T-shirt -- C.J. Brown’s son Malik El Brown, 28.

C.J. Brown said they’re not actually related to the senator and don’t work for him, but he failed to explain why they showed up at the news conference together.

“We call each other brothers, but we are not related,” C.J. Brown said.

He then said he wasn’t aware of the news conference in advance and hadn’t discussed it with Sen. Brown.

“We just go to these things. We help Robert out. I didn’t know,” C.J. Brown said.

They followed Sen. Brown into City Council chambers, where the senator ordered C.J. Brown to move a lectern about a dozen feet. C.J. Brown then went back to stand by the chamber’s main door with his son, Malik.

As Sen. Brown left the news conference at a half-run to avoid questions, Marshall tried to get ahead of him for another picture.

C.J. Brown said the altercation happened because Marshall “blew right past us and hit Robert.”

But Marshall says the opposite happened.

“As I was trying to go around Brown, he pushed me -- gave me a hip check to the left,” Marshall said. “The next thing I know, the guy in the red shirt was on me.”

As several videos from television news crews show, Malik Brown shoved Marshall into a wall in the City Hall lobby.

“Somehow I got away from him,” Marshall said.

Marshall headed out one set of the building’s front doors, still in pursuit of Sen. Brown, as Malik Brown ran out another door to head him off.

On the City Hall porch, Malik Brown slammed Marshall into a pillar. When he rebounded, Malik Brown shoved him again, knocking Marshall down and into a metal railing.

Malik Brown repeatedly yelled “better calm down!”, while C.J. Brown urged his son to stop. The two walked together up the street and around a corner as TV cameras surrounded Marshall on the sidewalk.

Macon police Capt. Jimmy Barbee arrived and called for a cruiser, then took Marshall’s report. He said police shouldn’t have much trouble identifying and finding the attacker. The report describes the incident as simple battery. Marshall said he’s not sure if he’ll press charges, but “it’s probably going to go that way.”

Reached later by cell phone, Malik Brown offered a brief excuse.

“I did what I did because I thought he was trying to attack Mr. Brown. I really don’t have much to say. I’m driving,” he said.

Houston County Sheriff’s Office records say Malik Brown was arrested Dec. 14 on charges of driving on a suspended or revoked license and not wearing a seat belt.

In response, Marshall said he was just trying to get around the senator to take a picture.

“I was just trying to do my job,” Marshall said. “I don’t know why this guy attacked me like that.”

A man who answered the phone at Sen. Brown’s local office -- who identified himself as an aide named Doug but who wouldn’t give his last name -- said he saw Marshall pushed into the pillar, but suggested Marshall was the instigator.

“I don’t know why he wanted to tussle with that big old dude,” the man said.

Telegraph Executive Editor Sherrie Marshall rejected any attempt to shift responsibility onto the photographer.

“Woody Marshall was doing his job. He was covering a public event at a public venue, and to be physically attacked the way he was is unbelievable and totally unjustified,” Sherrie Marshall said via e-mail Thursday evening. “Sen. Brown called a press conference to make a major political announcement. If that is not an invitation to the media, I don’t know what is. To think that a photographer with a camera might harm the senator, as Malik Brown apparently claims, defies logic.”

Woody Marshall went to The Medical Center of Central Georgia for X-rays and said Thursday evening that he couldn’t raise his right arm very high. Some of his camera equipment fell out during the altercation, but he said he didn’t think it was broken.

C.J. Brown said that neither he nor his son bore Marshall any ill will.

“We meant the reporter no harm,” C.J. Brown said. “Neither of us knows who he is. I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

To contact writer Jim Gaines, call 744-4489. To contact writer Shelby Spires, call 744-4494.

Read more: http://www.macon.com/2010/12/31/1393922/telegraph-photographer-attacked.html#ixzz19i0lcF9Y