Photo by Dana Loesch

St. Louis County Prosecutors watered-down the charges in the Kenneth Gladney case from a misdemeanor to an ordinance violation without so much as even calling St. John’s Hospital, where Gladney received treatment for his injuries, and checking Gladney’s hospital record or speaking with care providers on site.

Elston McCowan and Perry Molens were witnessed on video assaulting Gladney who is seen being taken to the ground. Cheryl Johner punched Kelly Owens in the face – which Owens caught on camera, an assault witnessed by a police officer, according to the police report – and all three get off with nothing more that ordinance violations.

Owens beating recap:

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SEIU is not stupid. When reports first came out of violence at the Russ Carnahan TownHall in Missouri, SEIU flacks jumped into their media spin machine and got to work. Tim Targaris, the SEIU new media spokesman started the party with a Tweet declaring:

Seven teabaggers arrested at Missouri town-hall event today. One SEIU staffer sent to hospital (shoulder) and will be ok. 9:01 p.m. August 6th.

We know now that it was five HCAN supporters who were arrested, but Tagaris continued to tweet false information, defending the story by citing an internal brief and then moving to other media response. A pledge was quickly created and touted by SEIU, decrying violence at townhalls. A video was cut that took the post-attack YouTube footage and spliced it with alternating footage of SEIU members singing peacefully followed by groups of tea party protestors shouting. And then an anonymous phone call characterized as a death threat was played for dramatic effect. It was some very fine propaganda.

Step 2 was turning the initial attacker Elston McCowan into a saint. SEIU and their pet bloggers on the left started talking about the 40-something, blind in one eye Baptist minister who was brutally attacked by teabaggers (SEIU likes to repeat the sexual slur). McCowan published photos of himself in a black outfit, a white priest collar, and a sling. He was Saint Innocent, the real victim. Once the video was released, SEIU created a second version of the story, maintaining it was McCowan who was attacked while laying helplessly on the ground. On August 13th, a full week after the attack, in an interview with Don Fitz of the St Louis Gateway Greens, McCowan relates what he claims is the real story behind the attack:

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We’ve just started to lay the groundwork on the Kenneth Gladney story and the shameful failure of the county prosecutor Bob McCullough to pursue criminal prosecution of SEIU assailants.  Left wing blogs, mainstream newspapers, and of course SEIU, having concluded a smear the messenger campaign, have now resorted to a blackout strategy.  The first rule of union beatings is you do not talk about union beatings.

With the healthcare bill having just passed the house, this story couldn’t have come at a worse time for Democrats.  Falling poll numbers for congressional Democrats and the President, waning support for the Pelosi/Reid bills, and renewed, often heated conflict between the progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic party gives a very small window to pass this bill. Discovering that the story of union members attacking a man outside a Townhall was covered up and ignored by politicians, unions, local papers and the mainstream media is a live grenade rolled into the middle of the healthcare debate.  There is no hiding from the scandal if Gladney’s story comes out.  Careers and campaigns will be ruined in St Louis.  Conservatives will have a convenient club with which to beat the St Louis Post Dispatch for their shameful coverage, and the strong ties of HCAN’s Missouri members to the Obama administration will continue to taint all of the enablers.

But this isn’t just about Kenneth Gladney.  Let’s set aside that travesty of justice and focus on the second assault that night.  After the police arrive, an OFA volunteer by the name of Cheryl Johner struck a Tea Party activist in the face.  A police officer saw the assault, and immediately arrested Ms. Johner.  Furthermore, the entire event was recorded on video, as the Tea Party Activist had her camera on the entire time.  We see Johner approach the camera, punch the girl in the face, and then we immediately see Johner cuffed and taken away.  This is the relevant portion of the video.

There is no doubt what happened.

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