On Saturday, WSAV (Savannah) reporter Alex Bozarjian was reporting from The Savannah Bridge Run. As is typical during live reports people were waving to the camera and jumping into the frame. One runner took this to a disturbing level, as seen in the below video.
The runner is shown making a beeline towards the reporter before slapping her on her backside as he ran by.
Reading through the responses to the above tweets, most everybody was outraged by the runner’s actions. But there was at least one person that asked “What’s the big deal?”
You only have to look at her immediate, unfiltered reaction on the video to understand what the big deal is.
“You violated, objectified and embarrassed me”
The director of The Savannah Sports Council responded strongly.
This will not be tolerated at our events. Glad we have race bibs and photos for easy identification. https://t.co/RwSHItW04v
— Robert Wells (@RobWells1) December 7, 2019
It was only a matter of time until the runner was identified. A photo was posted of the man responsible with his bib visible.
The runner was identified through twitter. I have verified the identification through other photos and by checking the bib number in the results.
As of Saturday evening, Tommy was scrubbing his social media accounts. His twitter account has been made private, his Facebook profile has changed and his settings were made private.
I will update this article if there is any further news.
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I think there will eventually come a time when people know this is not okay. Why that time didn’t arrive decades ago is beyond me.
maybe because we have a president who also thinks it’s ok
If only we had a President who respected women, like Bill Clinton or Joe Biden or JFK… oh wait… never mind.
Joe… Biden… was a president?
no but he wants to replace Trump as President, and his groping doesn’t seem to be a problem for anyone.
Man, if you are still angry Trump won what are you going to do when he wins re-election? Seriously Jerry…He won. You didn’t run. Get over it.
btw- have you seen the latest jobs report? (winning jerry…winning).
Have you seen the latest deficit report? As well as being impeached, Trump’s legacy will be bankrupting the country.
What a jerk and coward by not owning up and apologizing but instead trying to hide. I bet the next post will be about how he got fired from his job.
Someone reported on Twitter that he’s been charged. Good.
Some witch hunt on there though. On another post someone said people were contacting his kids.
I have a feeling that the backlash he is facing will make him think twice next time. Maybe.
For me the really scary part is one of the Twitter posters who said “lighten up, it was a joke” comments took me down a very scary incel rabbit hole on his profile. But seriously, my response to almost anything these days, which would be to the butt slapper is “was that meant to be helpful?”
It’s simple. Decent men keep their hands to themselves.
I’m really not surprised this guy thought it was okay to do. I agree that having a president who says it’s okay to grab women without their permission has made it worse. The fact that people support the president in spite of his clear disrespect of women disgusts me. The fact that he was elected in the first place was a clear sign that a disgusting number of people have no problem with this behavior. Those who support him and are okay with it are just as disgusting in my mind.
Double double letters
As a journalist covering the sport – thank you, Derek, and thank you, runners who helped find this guy.
You think someone who especially has DAUGHTERS would be offended by this. Bud, what if someone did this to your daughters??
Or wife. It’s just a shame there wasn’t a runner behind him who saw what happened clearly, who could have caught up with him and pushed him over.
John David and Fart
Please let us know the next time your wife or mom or daughters are out i. public so we can send Jeff over to them for a public slap in the butt since you seem ok with this behavior. It has nothing to do with whose president, it’s about decency towards women. If you are cool with it the please watch as some woman you love goes through the.
I thought the best part of being a runner was the “community”. To see some of the responses to this is unreal. I know there are people out there who are going to write things for the sake of getting responses. It is 2019 and when you do anything in public, it is going to spread. You can have a legitimate argument whether or not this person deserves everyone going after him, writing his workplace and his church, etc. I think he has it coming to him. Also, the political statements are not necessary. There are plenty of message boards out there is you want to do that.
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