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Cheney May Testify in 'Assault' Arrest Lawsuit

Turmoil in Cheney's Secret Service detail

By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 18, 2008 3:00 AM CST
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(Newser) – Vice President Dick Cheney may be questioned under oath in a free-speech and civil rights lawsuit brought by a man who was arrested and threatened with assault charges when he approached Cheney at a ski resort. The 2006 incident has sparked a storm of controversy inside the Secret Service with agents charging one another of a cover-up. Steven Howards was busted when he touched or pushed Cheney on the shoulder and called US policy in Iraq "disgusting,"

All charges against him were dropped. The arresting agent, who didn't witness the encounter, has accused other agents of changing their stories so Cheney wouldn't be inconvenienced by a trial, reports the New York Times. The other agents have claimed they were pressured into saying an assault took place to justify the arrest. The Secret Service agent who busted Woods has has been transferred to Guam.

Vice President Cheney may have to testify in a lawsuit filed by a man suing the Secret Service. Members of Cheney's detail arrested the man for assault after an incident at a Colorado ski resort.
Vice President Cheney may have to testify in a lawsuit filed by a man suing the Secret Service. Members of Cheney's detail arrested the man for assault after an incident at a Colorado ski resort.   (Getty Images)
Vice President Cheney may have to testify in a lawsuit filed by a man suing the Secret Service. Members of Cheney's detail arrested the man for assault after an incident at a Colorado ski resort.
Vice President Cheney may have to testify in a lawsuit filed by a man suing the Secret Service. Members of Cheney's detail arrested the man for assault after an incident at a Colorado ski resort.   (KRT Photos)
President Bush, second from right, is surrounded by Secret Service agents on an overseas trip. Controversy over the arrest of a man who allegedly assaulted Vice Presidenmt Cheney has caused turmoil in the agency.(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Bush, second from right, is surrounded by Secret Service agents on an overseas trip. Controversy over the arrest of a man who allegedly assaulted Vice Presidenmt Cheney has caused turmoil in...   (Associated Press)
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Cheney Assault

Man sues Secret Service agent over arrest
New York Times

 
Dick Cheney • Secret Service • civil rights • assault • Steven Howards • Virgil D. Reichle • Beaver Creek Resort • polygraph

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