Back in July, we wrote about WCHS reporter Bob Aaron being beaten with his own tripod while shooting a story about possible animal abuse. Aaron had received a tip about neglected mules and horses near a home on Bomont Road in Clay County , W.V., and drove down there to investigate.
According to the suit, when Aaron pulled over to get some b-roll of the area, Howard Lilly charged at him, shouting for him to stop filming and to “head down the road.”
“I got a wide shot and was getting ready to zoom in when the guy comes charging down the road,” Aaron told the Charleston Daily Mail. “He said ‘The sheriff was already out here. There’s nothing to take pictures of. You need to get on down the road.'”
Aaron explained to the paper that he told the man he was on public property and would leave soon. He said the man then grabbed at his camera equipment and swung his tripod at him.
“He hit me with my tripod,” Aaron told the Daily Mail. “It’s like basically being hit with a metal rod.”
According to the suit, Aaron says he suffered “severe emotional and mental distress, humiliation, anxiety, embarrassment, aggravation, annoyance and inconvenience.”
He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest.