L.A. Mayor's security bodychecks female reporter

Write-brained · Aug 7, 2007

Saw this on Leno tonight (haven't seen it posted here):

LA mayor's security detail ain't fooling around. A port officer shoved a female reporter into a shipping container when she tried to interview the mayor about his affair with a rival TV station's reporter.

The best video of it is here: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=900_1186170466&p=1

Story is here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20111358/

At a public event in Long Beach Friday morning, police officers accompanying Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa scuffled with reporters asking about the mayor and his girlfriend, Mirthala Salina, who was disciplined Thursday as a result of ethics violations at KVEA-TV, the Telemundo local station in Los Angeles.

....

In his first public comments since Telemundo announced the suspension, Villaraigosa apologized Friday for the "distraction" his affair has caused, but said is time to move on. While at the Port of Los Angeles to discuss security, the mayor was peppered with questions from reporters seeking his reaction to Telemundo's decision to suspend Salinas for two months without pay. Without addressing the questions directly, and not mentioning his girlfriend's name, Villaraigosa again apologized for having an affair while married to the mother of two of his four children.

"I regret the decisions that I have made in my personal life," he said. "I have been a distraction to the city of Los Angeles and I'm deeply sorry that I've let so many people down, especially my family.

"But it's time to move on, and move on we will," he said. "Now that Telemundo's internal review has reached a conclusion, it's my hope that we can all move forward. I intend to do that by working as hard as I can every single day.