EASTON, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on a prosecutor’s decision to forgo charges against a man who asked U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey whether his daughter had been kidnapped (all times local):
6:05 p.m.
A man who asked Republican Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (TOO’-mee) whether his daughter had been kidnapped says he was trying to make a point about a program that shielded hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation.
Simon Radecki asked Toomey at a televised town hall in August to confirm whether or not his “daughter Bridget has been kidnapped.”
A prosecutor announced Monday that Radecki’s question was within the bounds of free speech and that he will not face charges.
Nothing happened to Toomey’s daughter.
Radecki says his hypothetical question was meant to bring attention to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. President Donald Trump recently ended the program, which protected immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
Radecki says “DACA recipients are way more” on his mind than what happened Monday.
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3 p.m.
A man who was kicked out of a televised town hall for seeming to suggest Republican Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey’s (TOO’-meez) daughter had been kidnapped won’t face charges.
Democratic District Attorney John Morganelli said Monday that Simon Radecki’s question to the senator was inappropriate but within the bounds of free speech.
Radecki asked Toomey at the Aug. 31 town hall to “confirm whether or not your daughter Bridget has been kidnapped.”
Radecki said later he was only trying to make a point about how immigrant parents live in fear that children brought to the U.S. illegally will be deported.
Nothing happened to Toomey’s daughter.
A Toomey spokesman calls Radecki’s question “reprehensible” and “inherently threatening.” But he says the senator accepts Morganelli’s legal judgment.
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1:55 p.m.
A man who was removed from a televised town hall for asking Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania an unsettling question about his daughter won’t be charged.
District Attorney John Morganelli says Simon Radecki’s question was inappropriate but within the bounds of free speech.
Radecki was picked ahead of time to be one of Toomey’s questioners at the Aug. 31 event. When it was his turn, he went off-script and asked Toomey to “confirm whether or not your daughter Bridget has been kidnapped.”
Bethlehem police removed him from the stage and initially told Radecki he faced summary charges.
Radecki said later he was trying to ask Toomey a hypothetical question about his position on an Obama administration program that shielded young immigrants from deportation, many of whom were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
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