The campus police at Arizona State University on Thursday recommended that charges be brought against four protesters who filmed themselves accosting Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in a public restroom at the school over her opposition to key parts of President Biden’s multitrillion-dollar, 10-year spending bill.
The ASU police department said the four should be charged with disruption of an educational institution and disorderly conduct. Both crimes are misdemeanors.
Earlier this month, protesters from Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) accosted Ms. Sinema while she was teaching a class at Arizona State. Video from the incident, which LUCHA posted online, shows members of the groups aggressively questioning the lawmaker for failing to support Mr. Biden’s $3.5 trillion social welfare bill.
At some point, members of the group followed Ms. Sinema into a campus restroom and filmed themselves confronting her.
“We knocked on doors for you to get you elected,” one of the protesters shouts at Ms. Sinema through the door of a bathroom stall, according to the video. “And just how we got you elected, we can get you out of office if you don’t support what you promised us.”
Ms. Sinema has called the conduct not a “legitimate” form of protest. Mr. Biden later said the incident was “not appropriate,” but added, “but it happens to everybody” in the political process.
In Arizona, it is illegal to photograph or videotape an individual within a restroom where they have “a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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