Charge Dropped Against Reporter Who Questioned Tom Price
“The intense response to my arrest gives me confidence that people will defend the free press, because they believe in it.”
In a statement, the secretary of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs
and Public Safety, which oversees the Capitol Police, said the department “respects the prosecutor’s decision.”
Mr. Heyman was trailing Mr. Price on May 9 as he headed to a meeting at the West Virginia State Capitol.
Mr. Heyman, a reporter for the Public News Service, has maintained
that he was simply asking questions of a federal official as that official walked through the West Virginia State Capitol.
A reporter in West Virginia who was arrested four months ago after he aggressively questioned Tom Price, the secretary of the Department of Health
and Human Services, will not be prosecuted, officials announced Wednesday.
In a joint statement released by the Kanawha County prosecutor’s office and Mr. Heyman’s legal team said
that the State had determined “after a careful review” that Mr. Heyman had not acted unlawfully.
The May 9 arrest of the reporter, Dan Heyman, had stoked concerns about possible efforts to stymie the free press.
In another statement released Wednesday, Mr. Heyman said he was “very relieved” by the state’s decision.
