A political disagreement outside a polling place in New Hampshire turned physical Tuesday morning, and the disturbing encounter was caught on video. A 70-year-old man is now facing criminal charges after allegedly slapping a Turning Point Action member across the face near an elementary school where voters were casting their ballots.
The incident unfolded in Laconia, where Stephen Redic, a 70-year-old poet, reportedly approached a Turning Point Action tent as he was leaving the area. According to the Laconia Police Department, Redic wanted to read a poem "about rich people."
What followed had little to do with poetry.
Video circulating online shows Redic becoming increasingly agitated during an exchange with a Turning Point Action volunteer. The confrontation escalates as the older man raises his voice, gestures aggressively, and eventually sticks his middle finger toward the volunteer.
Then he strikes him across the face.
"You sit there and dare to look me in the face and say I don't know anything?" Redic shouts in the footage, his voice growing increasingly hoarse as he points his finger toward the volunteer.
"That's what I know," he adds before delivering the backhanded slap and walking away.
The footage captures the moment clearly, turning what began as a political confrontation into a criminal investigation.
Laconia police arrested Redic around 8 a.m. Wednesday. He faces a misdemeanor charge of simple assault and a violation for disorderly conduct.
Police Chief Matthew Canfield told Fox News Digital that Redic was not previously known to the department.
"We're not familiar with him, meaning we've had no prior contacts," Canfield said.
The incident raises an uncomfortable question about political hostility in America: when did disagreeing with someone become an excuse to put your hands on them?
A polling place should be a place where Americans can exercise their constitutional rights without intimidation or physical aggression. Political activists have every right to express their views, campaign, and engage voters peacefully. Nobody has the right to turn a disagreement into a physical attack.
The video now speaks for itself, while Redic faces the legal consequences of his actions. In a country built on free speech and peaceful political participation, the answer to an argument is another argument — not a slap across someone's face.
