Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price defended the West Virginia Capitol police after they arrested a journalist for “aggressively” asking him questions at the West Virginia state capitol building Tuesday.
“I want to commend the West Virginia Capitol police. They did what they felt was appropriate, and we thank them for the work that they do,” Price said at a press conference in New Hampshire Wednesday. “It’s important to appreciate that gentleman was not in a press conference, we were walking down a hall and the Capitol police acted as they felt necessary.”
The West Virginia Capitol police said in a criminal complaint that journalist Daniel Ralph Heyman, 54, ‘‘was aggressively breaching the secret service agents to the point where the agents were forced to remove him a couple of times from the area’’ in a Capitol hallway. It also says he was ‘‘causing a disturbance by yelling questions at Ms. Conway and Secretary Price.’’
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Price and White House advisor Kellyanne Conway were in Concord, N.H., Wednesday as part of a listening tour on the opioid crisis.
They held a closed-door meeting with New Hampshire officials from law enforcement, public health, and the judicial system as well as recovery and treatment advocates.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.