Police in Costa Mesa, California, arrested a 36-year-old man for threatening a TV news photographer with a knife and forcing him to a nearby live truck to delete any video that he might have appeared in during an anti-lockdown protest.
Police said that Christien Petersen, a self-described Trump supporter, approached a KTTV-TV news photographer and threatened to stab him if he didn’t comply with his orders, according to the station.
Petersen was still holding the photographer at knifepoint inside the news van when officers arrived, police said.
The incident took place Friday as part of a series of demonstrations nationwide protesting state orders imposing social distancing measures.
Thankfully, neither the photographer and the reporter he was accompanying were harmed. The station said both were shaken up and would be given time off.
Video of the incident did not air because all the raw video was turned over to police as evidence, the station said.
Petersen, who is believed to be an attorney, was arrested on kidnapping with a deadly weapon charges, and jailed on $100,000 bond.
