Newly obtained video surveillance footage proves that April Ryan’s security guard placed his hands on a local New Jersey reporter during an event held last week at The Heldrich Hotel in downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Seen below, the footage shows what happened after New Brunswick Today reporter Charlie Kratovil’s camera was snatched from him by Ryan’s security guard: He followed the guard to the lobby, retrieved his camera from him and was then grabbed by the guard and dragged out of the building.

Watch:

This video evidence was forwarded via email to BizPac Review early Saturday morning by Kratovil.

“Here is the video that I pressured police to collect from the hotel. … Please let me know if I can be helpful or if you have any questions,” he wrote.

The video shows events as they occurred last Saturday at the 4th annual New Jersey Parent Summit, where Ryan, a White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks and political analyst for CNN, delivered the keynote address.

But as Ryan began speaking, she kept staring at Kratovil’s camera in an odd manner. Soon after, her security guard approached her, and she signaled for him to do something.

Ryan then stood there staring at the camera for about 30 seconds, up until the moment someone snatched the camera from Kratovil and a confrontation ensued.

Following the incident, he posted footage from his camera to Twitter and claimed that he’d been “assaulted” by Ryan’s guard. However, he had no actual proof of the assault at the time, given as it was difficult to tell from the video footage what exactly had happened after the camera was snatched.

Watch:

See his tweets below:

I was just assaulted by @AprilDRyan‘s security guard for videotaping her remarks in New Brunswick – I guess some journalists don’t support freedom of the press. pic.twitter.com/r1EdKe5Bjg

— Charlie Kratovil (@Charlie4Change) August 4, 2019

First of all, I’m okay, although my left shoulder & arm did get hurt when the man (who police tell me is named Joel Morris) twisted it behind my back and shoved me out of the building.

— Charlie Kratovil (@Charlie4Change) August 4, 2019

Kratovil’s email to BPR also contained a police report confirming the events of the evening.

“Upon arrival, I spoke with Charles Kratovil (Reporting Party). He explained at approximately 2030 hours, he was inside of the Livingston Ballroom at the Heldrich,” it reads. “During this time, he was filming an event that he was invited to record by a male identified as Juan Melli. Melli works for a company called Mercury Public Relations and was not on scene at the time of this incident to verify.”

“While Kratovil was filming inside the Ballroom, April Ryan was brought up as a special guest speaker for the event. Once Ryan came onto the stage, Kratovil’s camera was taken out of his hand forcibly by a privately hired Security Guard for April Ryan and turned over to the Heldrich Hotel Security Staff at the Front Desk. According to Kratovil, the privately hired Security Guard utilized some kind of compliance hold and subsequently caused pain to Kratovil’s left wrist. I offered Kratovil medical attention and he refused the same.”

According to the report, the officers also spoke with Ryan’s guard, identified as Joel Morris, and the event organizer, identified as Shennell Barnes. Except that their statements appeared to contain certain discrepancies and possible mistruths.

“Barnes explained that April Ryan is a CNN Political Analyst and hired Morris for protection, due to the fact she has had several threats on her life in the past,” the report reads. “Once Ryan came onto the stage to speak, she refused to go forward with her speech until Kratovil stopped recording the event. Barnes and Morris asked Kratovil several times to stop recording the event and to leave the ballroom, which he refused to do so.”

It’s not clear whether they possessed the right to boot him from the hotel’s lobby. It’s also not clear whether any of the surveillance footage from The Heldrich Hotel shows either Morris or Barnes actually verbally confronting Kratovil before the altercation occurred.

“It was at this point, Morris freely admitted to grabbing a hold of Kratovil’s camera and removing it from his possession,” the report continues. “Morris then turned over Kratovil’s camera to the front desk Security Guard at the Heldrich Hotel and continued to provide protection for Mrs. Ryan. According to Barnes, Kratovil’s invite to the event by Juan Melli was not approved and was possibly some kind of clerical error.”

It’s unclear why Morris didn’t recount how he’d also grabbed Kratovil and dragged him out of the lobby, as seen in the surveillance footage above. As for Barnes’ claim about Kratovil not being approved, the New Brunswick Today reporter has claimed otherwise.

“If my invitation was a mistake, it was one that was repeated, confirmed in writing by the person who sent me the invitations, affirmed by the authorized on-site event personnel, and consistently reenforced over the course of several days leading up to the event, and on the night in question,” Kratovil wrote in a statement to the authorities that was shared with BPR.

He also addressed the claims that Barnes and Morris had asked him to leave.

“I must also categorically deny Ms. McCloud’s false allegation that she or anyone else asked or told me to leave the event repeatedly,” he wrote. “On the contrary, I left voluntarily after Mr. Morris stole my camera and fled the scene. I hope this helps to clear things up. If you have any questions, feel free to call or email me anytime.”

As of Saturday afternoon, not a single mainstream media outlet in the entire country had yet broken this story.

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Vivek Saxena

Senior Staff Writer
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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