MSNBC reporter Shaquille Brewster was attacked by an angry white man in Gulfport, Mississippi as he reported on Hurricane Ida on Aug. 31. NBC News reports that an arrest warrant has been issued for the man, whose name is Benjamin Eugene Dagley.
Brewster was reporting on the storm from the beach in Gulfport when Dagley ran towards Brewster from his pickup truck yelling about reporting accurately. The MSNBC reporter pivoted to keep Dagley from the camera’s view.
“I going to turn this way because we have random people coming up,” he said.
Brewster kept reporting on Hurricane Ida, but Dagley continued to rant off-camera. Brewster finally told anchor Craig Melvin that he was finishing the segment due to Dagley. Dagley then got in Brewster’s face, prompting a shocked Melvin to react.
“Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,” said Melvin. “Um, we’re going to check in with Shaq Brewster just to make sure all is well. There’s a loooooot of crazy out there. A lot of crazy”
We would like to thank the public for coming forward and helping identify Dagley. pic.twitter.com/SFPJAekshn
— Gulfport Police Dept (@GulfportPolice) August 31, 2021
Brewster is fine and posted a Tweet noting that the crew was also okay.
Appreciate the concern guys. The team and I are all good!
— Shaquille Brewster (@shaqbrewster) August 30, 2021
Dagley is from Wooster, Ohio. It is unclear why he was in Gulfport, but the Mississippi police said that they believe he has left the area and thanked the public for helping to identify him.
“Further investigation revealed that Dagley has left the area and is no longer on the Mississippi Gulf Coast…The Gulfport Police Department would like to thank the public for coming forward and helping identify Dagley.”
Dagley is reportedly on probation and was not supposed to travel without permission. Arrest warrants were issued charging Dagley with two counts of simple assault, disturbing the peace and violating emergency curfew.
Police are asking the public for assistance and request that anyone seeing Dagley or a white Ford pickup truck with the tag number PJR1745 to contact their local law enforcement authorities.
