Man Dining With Palin Assaults News Photographer Who Asked “Are You Guys Concerned She Tested Positive?”

Upper East Site reports:

A half dozen NYPD officers were called to Elio’s restaurant on Second Avenue Wednesday night after a man dining with the former Alaska Governor on the Upper East Side roughed up a news photographer filming them dining outdoors.

“Are any of you guys concerned she tested positive for covid?” he asked. The moment the words came out of the Upper East Site photographer’s mouth, the man put his napkin down, stands up and takes a beeline for him— menacingly asking “are you looking for trouble” over and over.

The unidentified, large man dining with Palin grabbed the victim’s fingers with both hands, wrenching and twisting them down, slamming the camera to the concrete, the photographer told Upper East Site

The New York Daily News reports:

Ex-New York Ranger and ex-MSG analyst Ron Duguay got up from the table, approached the photographer, and said: “Are you looking for trouble?” Duguay then apparently knocked to the ground the device the photographer was using to shoot the video.

The photographer told the Daily News he spoke to police about the incident. Law enforcement sources confirmed late Thursday that officers responded to a verbal dispute at Elio’s that involved Palin, and that the situation was resolved.

Paramedics examined the photographer for a possible broken finger and he declined transport to the hospital. No charges have yet been filed.