Fox 5 reporter arrested after tussle with BP worker

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By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WAGA-TV reporter George Franco was arrested Monday morning and charged with battery for allegedly shoving and grabbing a member of a Pensacola, Fla., beach clean-up crew.

mkg, Escambia County Sheriff's Office Fox5 WAGA-TV reporter George Franco was arrested early Monday morning in Pensecola, Fla. for battery. Athorities say he initiated a shoving match with a BP contractor hired to clean up Pensecola beach.

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Around 9 a.m. Monday, Escambia County sheriff's deputies were called to the incident at Pensacola beach.

The 52-year-old reporter "was in the general area (of a clean-up site) in a staging area," Escambia County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Melissa Aiken Rawson told the AJC of Franco. "A BP contract employee asked him to leave the area."

The BP contractor, site manager Joshua Mitchell, told police he advised Franco to stand outside the staging area, according to sheriff's office incident reports obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

But Franco pushed Mitchell and walked passed him, authorities said.

"Franco argued with the contractor, shoved the contractor and started grabbing him," Aiken Rawson said.

Mitchell told Franco several times to leave, then said he was going to call the sheriff's office, turning his back on the reporter.

That's when police records say Franco grabbed Mitchell's arm, spinning him around.

"Witnesses supported the claim of the victim," Aiken Rawson said, referring to two U.S. Coast Guard members listed in the sheriff's office incident report.

Sheriff's deputies tracked down Franco and put him in handcuffs, authorities said.

He was booked into the Escambia County jail just after noon Monday and later released on $500 bond.

Franco remains in Florida covering the Gulf oil spill.

Wednesday morning, Fox 5 Vice President of News Budd McEntee said Franco and the station deny the charges. McEntee would not elaborate.

Police records note the incident was filmed by the WAGA-TV crew.

Franco is due in an Escambia County court on June 28.

Return to AJC.com for more updates.