A 78-year-old Maine man is facing an assault charge after a viral video captured what appears to be him shoving and elbowing a journalist covering an anti-Trump protest in Bangor. The Bangor Police Department identified the man as Ronald Staples of nearby Holden, Maine, and confirmed the charge to Fox News Digital.
The incident, recorded on video and posted as a Facebook reel, shows two separate alleged physical confrontations between Staples and Joe Sokol, a journalist with The Maine Wire, who was interviewing demonstrators at the protest. Staples has not publicly responded to the charge. Fox News Digital reached out to both Staples and The Maine Wire for comment and received no response from either.
The case adds to a growing pattern of journalists facing physical aggression while covering left-wing protests. And it raises a straightforward question: if the people marching under the banner of democracy and decency can't tolerate a reporter with a camera, what exactly are they defending?
The footage, described in detail by Fox News Digital reporter Julia Bonavita, begins with Sokol speaking to a woman carrying a sign featuring an upside-down American flag. The woman tells Sokol, "When we find out that somebody is not a good person, we don't vote for them."
Moments later, Staples appears to shove both Sokol and his cameraman. The video then captures a second incident: Staples allegedly backs into Sokol and elbows him.
Sokol's reaction is audible on the recording. "Whoa, whoa, that's assault," he says as Staples walks away. He follows up: "Why would you just do that?" And then, more directly: "Excuse me, sir, would you like to tell me why you just assaulted me?"
Staples's only recorded response: "I didn't see you."
An unidentified woman, described as carrying an American flag and placing her hand on Staples's shoulder, followed him after the first alleged shove and apologized profusely to Sokol. "I'm sorry, we don't do that," she told the journalist.
That apology is notable. At least one person at the protest recognized immediately that something wrong had happened. But the apology didn't undo the shove, or the elbow that came after it.
The Bangor Police Department confirmed Staples's identity as the man in the video and said he faces one count of assault. Authorities have not released details about what led up to the alleged incidents or what happened immediately afterward. The exact date of the protest has not been publicly specified; the video was posted on a Tuesday, though no absolute date has been confirmed.
Whether Staples has been formally arrested, cited, or summoned remains unclear from available police statements. No information about physical injuries to Sokol or the cameraman has been disclosed.
The protest itself was organized around opposition to President Donald Trump, among other political flashpoints. The specific organizers and the full scope of the demonstration's agenda have not been identified publicly.
Bangor, Maine, is not Los Angeles or Minneapolis. It's a small city where this kind of incident doesn't blend into the background noise of urban unrest. But the dynamic on display, a protester physically confronting a journalist for the apparent offense of asking questions, has become disturbingly familiar across the country.
A federal grand jury recently indicted three people in connection with the assault of Turning Point USA reporter Savanah Hernandez at an ICE protest in Minneapolis. That case involved allegations of physical violence against a journalist covering a protest, the same basic fact pattern as the Bangor incident, escalated to the federal level.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham discussed the broader trend of journalists being targeted by left-wing activists during protests, referencing incidents in both Los Angeles and Minneapolis. Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Jorge Ventura appeared on her segment after reportedly falling victim to an attack himself.
These aren't isolated flare-ups. They form a pattern. Reporters show up to cover public demonstrations, events held in public spaces, exercising rights guaranteed by the same Constitution that protects the press, and face physical hostility from the very people claiming to champion democratic values.
The contradiction is not subtle. Political violence and the double standards surrounding it have become a recurring flashpoint, and the pattern runs in one direction far more often than the political establishment cares to acknowledge.
What separates the Staples case from many similar incidents is that a charge was actually filed. In too many cities, protesters who assault journalists or bystanders face no legal consequences at all. Permissive prosecutors and sympathetic local officials have, in recent years, treated protest-related violence as a form of protected expression rather than what it plainly is: a crime.
Bangor's police department, to its credit, identified the suspect, confirmed his identity publicly, and moved forward with a charge. That's how the system is supposed to work. A man allegedly shoves a journalist on camera, the journalist reports it, and law enforcement acts.
The fact that this feels noteworthy, that a straightforward assault charge after a recorded incident counts as news, says something about how far expectations have fallen in other jurisdictions. Left-wing groups have rallied behind convicted defendants involved in protest-related violence, treating criminal accountability as persecution rather than justice.
Meanwhile, courts in other parts of the country have shown they're willing to hold activists to the same standards as everyone else. A Denver judge sentenced a police critic to 60 days in jail for doxing an officer's home address, a reminder that actions have consequences even when wrapped in political grievance.
One count of assault against a 78-year-old man in a small Maine city is not, by itself, a major legal proceeding. But the case matters because of what it represents. A journalist was doing his job. A protester allegedly decided that the presence of a camera and a microphone justified physical force. And the whole thing was caught on video for the world to see.
Staples told Sokol, "I didn't see you." The video suggests otherwise. A fellow protester apologized on his behalf, acknowledging in real time that the conduct was wrong. Now the legal system will decide what happened and what it's worth.
The open questions remain significant. What provoked the first shove? What happened after the camera stopped rolling? Did Sokol or his cameraman sustain injuries? None of that has been disclosed. Authorities have kept the details close, and neither Staples nor The Maine Wire has commented publicly.
What we do know is this: the video exists, the charge has been filed, and the Bangor Police Department put a name to the conduct. That's more than a lot of cities have managed when their own protesters cross the line.
Press freedom isn't a partisan principle, or at least it shouldn't be. When a journalist gets shoved for covering a public protest, the only proper response is accountability. Not apologies from bystanders. Not silence from the accused. Accountability from the law.
If you have to assault a reporter to make your political point, your point wasn't worth making.
