GOP Nevada Lt Gov. hopeful aggressively thrown through metal detector at COVID meeting, video shows
Republican Nevada lieutenant governor candidate said security officer shoved and pushed attendees of the meeting
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
A Republican candidate for Nevada’s lieutenant governor was seen on camera being aggressively thrown out of a local government meeting in Las Vegas, where a committee vote declared the spread of COVID-19 misinformation a public health crisis.
"Hey, hey, wait a minute. What the hell?" candidate Mack Miller is heard saying in a video he filmed before he was thrown out of the Clark County Commission meeting on Tuesday. He claimed security officers had been "shoving and pushing" people in the meeting.
"Don't push me, man," Miller is also heard telling the officers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
NEVADA BRINGS BACK MASK MANDATE IN HIGH-TRANSMISSION AREAS, ECHOING CDC GUIDANCE
Other videos from the meeting have since spread on social media, showing a melee between attendees and security officers.
Miller was eventually pulled from the meeting by security, according to video that shows him being pushed through a metal detector before he lands on his back in the lobby of the building.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
"Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him," onlookers in the video are heard saying. "What are you doing?"
"It is unfortunate that what should be a meeting for the people by its elected officials ends in such chaos. No matter how hard I was thrown to the ground the people hardest hit by the commissioner's actions are the citizens of Nevada and this country. There is no way you're going to stop me from protecting these people's rights!" Miller later told Fox News in a statement.
FORMER SEN. HELLER LAUNCHES GOP GUBERNATORIAL RUN IN NEVADA
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
The incident occurred after protesters denounced a resolution declaring misinformation on COVID-19 vaccines a public health crisis, the Las Vegas Sun reported. Protesters slammed the resolution as infringing on their First Amendment rights, and called it "tyrannical" and "communist," and at one point chanted "commies" and "resign" at the commission members.
"During a break in the meetings, a group of attendees became disruptive after one of them was asked by security officers to put on his face mask, in keeping with COVID-19 protocols. Numerous persons became boisterous and it became necessary to clear the room," director of public communications at Clark County, Erik Pappa, told Fox News on Wednesday.
He added that the incident involving Miller is currently under review by his staff.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Security soon ordered everyone in the room to leave, and the confrontation between Miller and the security officer ensued.
The crowd soon calmed down and was allowed back in the meeting room. The resolution ultimately passed in a 5-2 vote, with commission chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick and Gibson voting against it.
GOP CANDIDATE MAKES MAJOR INVESTMENT IN LAUNCHING NEVADA GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
"For me the difficulty is what we saw here today ... people worrying about whether or not they’ll have the right to speak, to dissent, to express opinion, to get into even a real significant public discourse or an argument," Gibson said, according to the Las Vegas Sun. "When we have to tell them that those rights are not impaired by something we’re doing ... we’ve almost already lost the battle."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Miller previously made headlines when he ran for the state assembly in 2018 as a Republican and was accused of deserting his fellow Army soldiers in Iraq in the 2000s. He later apologized to his fellow soldiers, saying he "never had any intent to harm anyone or to desert them."