Saturday, May 19, 2007
Link to this story:
PRESCOTT – Police are
looking for a man they say attacked two members of the Minuteman Civil
Defense Corps as they videotaped and photographed him picking up day
laborers Friday at the corner of Lincoln and Grove avenues.
At 9 a.m., the driver of the pickup
pulling a U-Haul trailer became agitated when he saw the men with cameras
and he assaulted one of them, said Prescott Police Lt. Ken Morley.
The driver took the digital camera
from the Minuteman and threw it into a nearby creek.
He also tried unsuccessfully to take
the video camera away from the other Minuteman, Morley said.
The men were photographing the area,
which attracts people looking for day work, because they believe it is
illegal to employ workers they suspect are illegal immigrants, Morley said.
“They are putting a case together,” he said.
Dan Pedersen, owner of the nearby
Classic Barrel and Gunworks, saw part of the incident, which happened in
front of his shop. He said he gave the minutemen permission to film from his
property twice a week because “they are reporting people employing those
day-workers.”
He said he saw “an unidentified man
chasing one of the minutemen.
“The attacker was swinging and the
minuteman was retracting as fast as he could,” Pedersen said.
Pedersen called 911 and within
minutes, four police cars arrived.
“They were here quickly and they were
here in force,” Pedersen said.
The suspect left before officers
arrived. Pedersen said the suspect’s vehicle had no business marking on it,
and, according to Morley, he most likely was a citizen seeking day workers
to help him with his move.
Pedersen said the minuteman with the
video camera recorded the incident.
A man phoned The Daily Courier saying
he was with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and was involved in the
incident. He declined to reveal his name and other incident-related details
including the reason he was photographing day workers. He said the police
obtained his statement and the video footage.
Morley said if they catch the suspect,
he could face two counts of misdemeanor assault and one count of criminal
damage.