Alaska Editor Handcuffed by Joe Miller's Guards

(Newser) – An Alaska editor was "arrested" and handcuffed by bodyguards of Tea Party Senate candidate Joe Miller as the journalist attempted to ask Miller questions following a public event. Tony Hopfinger of the Alaska Dispatch was cuffed and held by the guards in the hallway of a public middle school where the event occurred. The editor was finally released after Anchorage cops ordered the guards to do so. The guards claimed Hopfinger had "trespassed" on the town hall meeting at the school organized by the Miller campaign and that he "shoved" one of the guards.

As reporters attempted to question Hopfinger on the scene, they were also threatened with arrest for trespassing, and confrontations with journalists by guards included "chest bumps" and "shoving matches" at the "bizarre school scene," reports the Anchorage Daily News. The guards confiscated Hopfinger's video camera, and he said a section recording his confrontation with the guards had been erased. A statement from Miller said that the "liberal blogger lost it" at the town hall meeting during a deliberate "publicity stunt." For more on the story, click here.