Man Accused of Groping Reporter Is Charged With Sexual Battery

Thomas Callaway accused of touching Georgia reporter Alex Bozarjian during live TV broadcast
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 14, 2019 6:30 AM CST

A Georgia man says he got "caught up in the moment" as he ran a road race last weekend, but a local TV reporter has now filed a criminal complaint against him. WSAV's Alex Bozarjian was working a live broadcast last Saturday on Savannah's Talmadge Bridge during the Enmarket Savannah Bridge Run when viewers could see her visibly distressed after one man ran by and appeared to grab her backside. Bozarjian called the runner out for exactly that in a later tweet and said she was mulling filing a police report, which she did this week with the Savannah Police Department. Thomas Callaway, 43, turned himself in on Friday and was arrested on a misdemeanor sexual battery charge, which could earn him up to a year in jail if convicted, per NBC News.

Bozarjian's complaint says that she "described the smack as a 'smack and grab,' advising that he also grabbed her buttocks in the same motion. She stated she felt a sharp sting after the smack and advised that it caused her to pause during the broadcast," per CNN. In a Tuesday WSAV interview, Callaway tried to make amends, saying, "Alex, I am sorry. I did not mean to do this. I think you're a great, great asset to this community and to the local media and to the national media. You're very talented. You're an amazing woman from what I've gathered, and I apologize." WSAV reports, via CNN, that Callaway—a married dad of two who's also a youth minister and Boy Scout leader, per the New York Post—has been released on $1,300 bond. (More groping stories.)

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