Police: Pro-vaccine lawmaker in California assaulted by anti-vaccine activist

A California state senator who authored a bill to restrict vaccine exemptions was assaulted in Sacramento on Wednesday by an anti-vaccine activist, police said.

State Sen. Richard Pan (D) was walking with a colleague when Kenneth Austin Bennett pushed him from behind, the Los Angeles Times reports. Bennett livestreamed the incident on Facebook, and is heard saying, "I probably shouldn't have done that." When he uploaded the video, he added the caption: "Yes, I pushed Richard Pan for lying, laughing at us, and for treason." Pan, he continued, "got what he deserved, he would be hanged for treason for assaulting children, for misrepresenting the truth."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.