After Slapping Reporter's Rear on Live TV, Runner from Viral Video Arrested
A youth minister has been arrested after slapping a TV reporter’s rear end slapped on live TV while she covered a Georgia road race.
On Dec. 7, WSAV-TV reporter Alex Bozarjian was reporting live from the Savannah Bridge Run. Many of the runners passing by waved, made faces and performed the standard antics common to live TV footage.
“Whoa!” Bozarjian said laughing as a runner in a gorilla suit jogged past. “Not expecting that!”
But one runner took things a little too far.
A viral Twitter clip shows a man slapping Bozarjian on her rear end as she then glares off-camera at him while he runs away in the pack.
To the man who smacked my butt on live TV this morning: You violated, objectified, and embarrassed me. No woman should EVER have to put up with this at work or anywhere!! Do better. https://t.co/PRLXkBY5hn
— Alex Bozarjian (@wsavalexb) December 7, 2019
Bozarjian followed up the incident with an outraged tweet.
“To the man who smacked my butt on live TV this morning: You violated, objectified, and embarrassed me. No woman should EVER have to put up with this at work or anywhere!! Do better,” she tweeted.
It did not end there.
The Savannah Sports Council, which sponsored the race, said on Twitter that it had identified the man who slapped Bozarjian and would ban him from future races.
(3/4) Yesterday afternoon we identified him and shared his information with the reporter and her station.
— SAV Sports Council (@SavannahSports) December 8, 2019
(4/4) We will not tolerate behavior like this at a Savannah Sports Council event. We have made the decision to ban this individual from registering for all Savannah Sports Council owned races.
— SAV Sports Council (@SavannahSports) December 8, 2019
Thomas Callaway, 43, a youth minister from Statesboro, Georgia, was charged Friday with sexual battery, Fox News reported.
WSAV later aired an apology from Callaway.
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“I’m thankful for this opportunity to share my apology to her and to her family and to her friends and her coworkers,” Callaway said. “It was an awful act, it was an awful mistake.”
“I am not that person that people are portraying me as … I make mistakes, I’m not perfect and I’m asking for forgiveness and to accept my apology,” he said.
The station also issued a statement in support of Bozarjian.
“The conduct displayed by one man toward Alex Bozarjian during her live coverage of Saturday’s Savannah Bridge Run was reprehensible and completely unacceptable. No one should ever be disrespected in this manner. The safety and protection of our employees is WSAV-TV’s highest priority. WSAV continues to support Alex completely as this case moves forward,” the statement said.
Bozjarian appeared on “CBS This Morning” to discuss the incident.
“He took my power, and I’m trying to take that back,” she said. “I think what it really comes down to is that he helped himself to a part of my body.”
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