COLUMBUS, Ohio - A protester outside the Ohio Statehouse on Friday, upset with what she thought was coronavirus reporting inciting fear, accosted a Columbus television reporter trying to cover the demonstration.
The unidentified woman wasn’t wearing a mask and wasn’t keeping six feet of distance between her and NBC4 reporter Adrienne Robbins, who requested more than once that the woman keep more space to prevent transmission of the virus.
“How old are you?” the woman asked Robbins, after following her around for several minutes.
Robbins declined to answer, then turned away to continue working.
The woman followed her.
“Did you know that the company that you work for is lying to the American people, and you know that what you are doing is wrong at the end of the day,” the woman said. “You know it. You see how nervous you are? You’re shaking.”
In the end, someone led the woman away. But during the confrontation, Robbins readjusted her mask as the woman yelled about how she wore the face covering, knocked her glasses off her face and they broke.
Gov. Mike DeWine’s spokesman Dan Tierney said he reported the incident to the Ohio Highway Patrol.
He also reported an incident in which a Statehouse window was opened, possibly from the outside, and protesters began shouting into the building.
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