Police Issue Arrest Warrant In Elie Wiesel Attack

[PhilipShore]

AP

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/topstories_story_047231531.html

(AP) SAN FRANCISCO Police on Friday issued an arrest warrant for a New Jersey man suspected of roughing up Nobel laureate and Holocaust scholar Elie Wiesel at a San Francisco hotel earlier this month.

The warrant for 22-year-old Eric Hunt includes charges for attempted kidnapping, false imprisonment, elder abuse, stalking, battery and committing a hate crime, police said.

Wiesel was a featured speaker at a Feb. 1 peace forum at the Argent Hotel. He was approached in the lobby by a man in his 20s who asked for an interview, authorities said.

[Kagemusha]

1. That's really throwing the book at him. (Not a complaint...)

I mean, if the man really did say, as has been reported, that his intent was to haul Wiesel to a room and chew him out, and laid a hand on the elderly man, restraining him in doing so, motivated by hatred, then every charge is completely justified by the law.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. Yeah

And I have a bit of a problem with it.

I am all in favor of arresting this punk, trying, convicting and punishing him. But come on, this is what they used to call "piling on" at my old military academy. "Elder abuse"? It's assault and battery. Elder abuse is what you charge neglectful people in nursing homes with.

[Kagemusha]

5. Yeah, the elder abuse thing is definite piling on...

Makes for good PR though.

They'll have to prove the story in court too obviously.

[Irreverend IX]

3. If I recall correctly...

This guy posted gloating messages on the Net about his attack on Wiesel a week ago or more. Why did it take this long for the cops to get around to putting out a warrant on him?

[Kagemusha]

6. They must've thought the charges seemed insuffciently numerous

so they researched how to put out a warrant for the maximum possible charges, and have now done so. They obviously didn't act like they had concerns about the guy being a flight risk.

[Hekate]

4. I knew they could find him after he boasted on the Internet(s)

What a freepin' creep. How very freepish indeed, to be so cowardly as to shove around an old man. The jerk stalked Mr. Wiesel, grabbed him and tried to force him into a room alone to argue that the Holocaust never happened. What else did he plan to do?

Hunt deserves to have the book thrown at him.

Hekate

[ama]

7. i don´t get this

from the OP link ¨He was approached in the lobby by a man in his 20s who asked for an interview, authorities said.

When Wiesel consented to talk in the hotel’s lobby, the man insisted it be done in a hotel room and dragged the 78-year-old off the elevator on the sixth floor, police said.¨
If as stated Mr. Wiesel was approached IN THE LOBBY Why did he get into the lift with this 20 year old guy and whose room where they going to?