Anti-vaxxer posts video of himself assaulting senator who authored law that limits vaccine exemptions

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA — An anti-vaccine activist posted a livestream video of himself confronting state Senator Richard Pan, who wrote legislation to restrict vaccine exemptions, at one point shoving Pan from behind.

As CBS Sacramento reports, Kenneth Austin Bennett filmed himself on Facebook Live this Wednesday confronting Pan as the two walked down a sidewalk near the state Capitol.

Bennett posted the video to Facebook with the caption: “… yes, I pushed Richard Pan for lying, laughing at us and for treason.”

In the video before the confrontation, Bennett rambles about chemtrails, the KGB, the “criminal enterprise” of the CIA, and laments “the Ten Commandments coming down from court houses.”

At around the 8:50 mark of the video, Bennett notices Pan walking towards him.

“Oh my goodness,” he exclaims. “What are the chances of this?”

As Bennett starts to berate him about vaccines, Pan snarkily shoots back,” Maybe you should study public health.”

For about two minutes, Bennetts follows Pan and continuously questions his support for vaccines, before pushing him from behind.

“I probably shouldn’t have done that,” Bennett says after the assault, later adding that Pan should be “hanged for treason for assaulting children, for misrepresenting the truth.”

 

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, a spokesperson for Pan said the senator has been a constant target of anti-vaccine activists since he introduced a 2015 bill that tightened vaccine requirements for vaccines in California.

“This is moving from a peculiar fringe curiosity to a violent extremist movement,” Shannan Velayas said. “Unfortunately this is not a surprise when violent rhetoric is used. Assaulting a public official is the logical next outcome of violent and insightful language.

Bennett was cited by the Sacramento Police for assault as a result of the incident.

Featured image via screen grab

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.