Three different stories from three different sources on Utica's election night chaos
Story Created:
Nov 4, 2009 at 12:19 PM EST
Story Updated:
Nov 4, 2009 at 5:25 PM EST
UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - Republican First Ward Utica Council candidate Ed Hill is accused of punching a poll watcher who tried to break up a fight between Hill and another candidate.
But, as you can imagine, both men give very different accounts of what actually happened.
The chaos all happened at a polling place at Kennedy Plaza Apartments in Utica. around 5:30 Tuesday afternoon.
There currently are three very different accounts of what happened - from Republican candidate Ed Hill, the accused; and Democrat candidate Frank Vescera; and Utica Police.
On Tuesday night, Vescera said that he saw Ed Hill verbally harassing two female election workers, and tried to intervene.
"I stopped and very calmly said to him, 'Ed, I think you're out of line, you shouldn't be doing that to these women," Vescera said. "At that point, he lunged and hit Mr. Colon, who was also a poll watcher."
Utica Police said that Republican 1st ward Council candidate Ed Hill apparently felt that Democrat Frank Vescera was too close to a polling table. They say that Ed Hill "chest-bumped" Vescera. They said that when that happened, poll watcher Michael Colon tried to break up the two, and that's when Utica Police say Hill wound up punching Colon.
Ed Hill declined to talk on camera for an interview, but over the phone said "the allegations are not true."
Police charged Hill with second-degree harassment - a violation equal to that of a traffic ticket.
Hill is scheduled to appear in city court to answer the charge at a later date.
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