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Bodyguard for CNN's April Ryan charged with assault after removing journalist from event

Surveillance video captured the incident when a New Jersey journalist was kicked out of a speech featuring White House correspondent April Ryan.
Credit: AP
FILE - In this Dec. 19, 2014 file photo, April Ryan, a veteran White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, appears at a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington.

A CNN political analyst's bodyguard has been issued a summons for an alleged assault of another journalist. Video from New Brunswick Today shows an altercation between the bodyguard, Joel Morris, and New Brunswick Today editor Charlie Kratovil. 

Ryan was the keynote speaker at the New Jersey Parent Summit on Aug. 3.

Kratovil said a public relations firm invited him to the event, and he checked in and recorded other speakers without issue. 

However, during Ryan's speech, a man approached Kratovil and demanded he stop recording then tried to take his camera. 

Video from his camera showed the security guard walk up and talk to Ryan, who then stands at the podium silent for about 30 seconds. Kratovil can then be heard arguing with the guard as Ryan tells the crowd that, "When I speak, I don't have news covering my speech."  

RELATED: Security for CNN's April Ryan kicks out journalist for filming speech

Kratovil announced on Twitter that he had filed harassment and assault complaints against the bodyguard, as well as a complaint for the theft of his camera. Morris is set to be arraigned on Sept. 12 in Superior Court. 

"This was more than just an assault on me," he said in another tweet. "This was an assault on freedom of the press."

Ryan told the Hollywood Reporter in Aug. 2018 that she recently hired a bodyguard after receiving death threats. 

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