The cameras captured the moment where Isabel Balado, a Spanish reporter, was attacked by a man who touched her buttocks without permission. Although the aggressor was arrested, a Spanish judge released him after considering that the man did not represent a danger.
The decision was made this September 13 by the Court of Instruction number 54 in Madrid. The man, a 25-year-old Romanian, was released after 24 hours in prison.
“The judge did not agree to any precautionary measure because he did not appreciate a situation of danger, urgency, violence, or intimidation against the victim, which he did not recognize until the moment the events occurred,” detailed in court in a statement.
The attack against the journalist took place on Tuesday morning. The woman was broadcasting a public order information on air when the man approached her and touched her butt. Then, the cameras caught the moment where the aggressor continued to harass other women who were walking on that street.
The prosecutor in charge of the case asked the judge to consider the 300-meter restraining order and ban on communicating, in any way, with the victim.
The aggressor denied the incident from the beginning and later apologized to the woman. The police arrested him a few hours later and took him to a detention center in Madrid.
“Not so good, especially if you’re working. We went live and there she was with another boy, didn’t she have something else to do all morning? The truth is that it made me nervous,” said Balado when he was attacked.
