Thomas Callaway, the man who slapped a reporter during the 2019 Enmarket Savannah Bridge Run on Dec. 7, has now been charged with misdemeanor sexual battery, according to The New York Times.
A news clip of the incident occurring in real-time went viral on Twitter and currently has over 12 million views and 736,000 likes.
After the event, The Savannah Sports Council announced on Twitter that it would attempt to identify the man: “Yesterday afternoon we identified him and shared his information with the reporter and her station,” the organization said. “We will not tolerate behavior like this at a Savannah Sports Council event. We have made the decision to ban this individual from registering for all Savannah Sports Council owned races.”
Callaway later appeared on WSAV to apologize: “It was an awful act and an awful mistake,” he told the station. “I am not that person that people are portraying me as. I make mistakes, I’m not perfect and I’m asking for forgiveness and to accept my apology.”
After the incident, WSAV released a statement reading, “This conduct displayed toward Alex Bozarjian during her live coverage of Saturday’s Savannah Bridge Run was reprehensible and completely unacceptable. No one should ever be disrespected in this matter. The safety and protection of our employees is WSAV-TV’s highest priority. WSAV continues to support Alex completely as this case moves forward.”
Callaway has been released on a $1,300 bond.