The 'angry white man' who violently charged and physically assaulted a reporter during the coverage of Hurricane Ida in Mississippi on Monday has been identified as Benjamin Eugene Dagley. An arrest warrant has been issued for the Dagey, who is currently on the run.
Dagley was branded as the 'angry white man' after his video went viral on social media prompting a backlash.
Dagley Threatened the Reporter to 'Report Accurately'
The viral video shows MSNBC reporter Shaquille Brewster reporting about the hurricane while standing near a water body on Highway 90. Suddenly a white truck pulls up behind him and a white man emerges from the driver's seat. He starts running while yelling at Brewster, who was reporting live to MSNBC's Craig Melvin.
"I think we even have a random person going around," he says when Dagley starts shouting "report accurately, report accurately."
At this point, Brewster, while turning away along with his cameraman, is heard telling the viewers, "I'm going to turn this way because, you know, we deal with people every once and awhile."
Not done with his outburst, the man again gets uncomfortably close to Brewster's face while shouting "report accurately, report accurately."
Dagley is on Probation in his Home State of Ohio
Dagley, who hails from Wooster, Ohio, was charged with two counts of simple assault, one count of disturbance of the peace and one count of violation of emergency curfew, following the violent incident, according to the Gulfport Police.
The Heavy reported that the 54-year-old was on a probation in his home state of Ohio when he attacked the reporter. The outlet reported that the police, after contacting the Cuyahoga County Adult Probation Department, confirmed about Dagley's criminal history and found out that he violated his probation condition which included restrictions on travel.
"Further investigation revealed that Dagley has left the area and is no longer on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Gulfport Police Department would like to thank the public for coming forward and helping identify Dagley," a press released from the Gulfport Police read.
Dagley Had Caused an" Environmental Disaster"
Dagley was previously charged for causing an environmental disaster after he drilled holes in tanks containing dangerous chemicals in Ohio in 2017.
Cleveland.com reported that Dagley was arrested after he broke into an electroplating company and drilled holes in tanks of dangerous chemicals.
Dagley's act led to a security guard getting hospitalized due to cyanide poisoning. According to the employees, that the chemical breach was "severe enough to cause a large scale catastrophe, and Dagley knew what he was doing."
Speaking to the outlet, Ed Cochran, the owner, had told the outlet that surveillance footage revealed Dagley drilling into tanks of sodium cyanide, hydrochloric acid, yellow chromate, ferrous chloride, and sulfuric acid. "If you mix the (cyanide and hydrochloric acid), you basically have the cyanide gas of World War I," Cochran said. "It certainly would produce a toxic vapor that could kill."
