WDAZ reporter Adam Ladwig told viewers of the Grand Forks, ND, ABC affiliate what what went down the day he was attacked on the Spirit Lake Reservation.
Last week, Ladwig was at the scene of a garage fire on the reservation when he was approached by two women.
“They didn’t say anything until they got right on me,” Ladwig told WDAZ reporter David Schwab. “And they started yelling obscenities at me telling me to stop filming and get out of there.”
He said the confrontation escalated with his camera eventually sustaining damage. He was also told by a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer to delete the footage he had already shot.
“I was afraid that if I said I couldn’t delete the footage I would be attacked again because during that time two gentlemen came up along with the two women who originally attacked me,” said Ladwig. “And they were threatening to go grab a hammer and get the tape out that way.” Click here to see the video of the story.
Ladwig said he believes negative coverage has led residents there to view the media in bad light especially after a recent shift in power, “So I think that group that was in power, that is no longer in power, partially blames the coverage so they are taking it out on me.”
“There is a phrase in journalism that you want to report the news; you don’t want to be the news,” Ladwig said. “So I’m the story right now. And I don’t want to be.”