Local reporter pushed and punched several times while covering anti-mask, anti-vaccine rally in Traverse City, Mich.

Brandon Quealy

The Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office in Michigan is investigating a complaint that a Traverse City Record-Eagle reporter was punched in the face while attempting to cover an anti-mask, anti-vaccine rally last week, Mardi Link reports for the Record-Eagle.

The incident happened when reporter Brendan Quealy went to a public park in a nearby township Thursday to cover an event organized by Citizens Liberating Michigan. The group opposes masking and vaccine mandates, and announced the event after the local school board voted to require masking for all K-12 students and staff through Sept. 27, Link reports.

After Quealy began recording audio of the event with his cellphone, an event organizer, Heather Cerone, told him they did not authorize recording of the event, and claimed it was on private property because they rented the park pavilion. She directed people to stand in front of Quealy to prevent him from seeing what was going on, Link reports. Quealy told investigators that two men approached him and told him to leave, pushed him, and one of the men pushed him into a wooden fence and punched him in the face with both fists.

Traverse City (Wikipedia map)

The county prosecutor told Link that, though a pavilion may be rented for a private function, other people—including reporters—have the right to be in areas surrounding the pavilion, and event holders must accept that the pavilion is open-air and that their events may be seen and heard by others.

Sheriff Tom Bensley told the Record-Eagle that some people "are not happy with the news outlets," and said this was the second anti-news media incident he's seen recently. The first incident happened in May, when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer visited rural Leelanau County. Sheriff's deputies arrested a man after a local television news crew recorded him trying to destroy a microphone and spitting at the camera, Link reports.