Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said he won’t file criminal charges after reviewing unedited video showing events that led to a Fox News contributor being punched during December’s protests against right-to-work legislation.
Kristen M. Daum reports in the Lansing State Journal that Steven Crowder filed a police report following the Dec. 11 incident at the Capitol, which Michigan State Police had referred to Dunnings’ office for review. The fight occurred amid generally peaceful demonstrations involving more than 10,000 people who had gathered in Lansing that day as lawmakers voted on a package of bills that ban requiring union dues as a condition of employment.
Dunnings said Monday the first video his office reviewed had been edited. After reviewing an unedited clip, above, he decided to not pursue the case.
“It’s pretty clear the person that they wanted to charge was acting in self-defense,” Dunnings said of the union member who apparently slugged Crowder after the union member was knocked down. It’s unclear who pushed the union member.
After the skirmish, Crowder placed a video on YouTube showing he was punched repeatedly in the face by a protester, while another man speaking off-camera threatened to kill Crowder with a gun. Crowder said there was no police presence in the area during the altercation. The Crowder video received wide play on Fox, as it tried to discredit anti-right-to-work protesters.
But the New York Times raised questions almost immediately about Crowder's video on its blog, The Lede.
"Unfortunately for Mr. Crowder, a look at the video broadcast on the Sean Hannity show appears to show quite clearly that he left out an important section of the footage when he put together his edit. A section of the Fox News broadcast preserved by the Web site Mediaite shows that Mr. Hannity’s producers at Fox News started the clip five seconds earlier than Mr. Crowder did. What the extra footage reveals is the man who punched Mr. Crowder being knocked to the ground seconds before and then getting up and taking a swing at the comedian."
Crowder tweeted later that day: "Even if you hate me, nothing I could have done warranted being suckerpunched and threatened with murder."
On the Frank Beckmann show the next morning on WJR, Crowder vowed to press charges if his attackers are located.
Byond labor issues, abstinence is major concern for Crowder. He writes a column about refraining from sex outside of marriage and wrote in 2012 that he and his wife remained chaste prior to their September wedding.
