Anchor Andrés Herrera, who works for the Telemundo affiliate in Bakersfield was attacked by a man outside the KGET studios just as he was about to enter the station earlier today.
Andrés was taken to the hospital, but wasn’t seriously injured.
The assault was captured by a security camera. Andrés says that when the man approached him he asked in a friendly tone if he worked there.
“I said yes and he proceeded to take a long swing at my face with a massive punch and walked away. It took me a few seconds to recover from the blow and realize what had just happened. I wanted to know why he hit me, so I followed him and asked him,” he tells Media Moves.
“He said that with those television antennas I was part of the conspiracy. I asked him which conspiracy, but he kept walking away at a fast pace.”
Andrés says that at that point, his wife and co-anchor Candy Cáceres, started following the man in her car while he followed on foot and called 911 to report the incident.
“He yelled out that he was going to kill us all. Within 8 minutes and close to 5 blocks away from the station, several police cars caught up to him and arrested him.”
Bakersfield Police identified the man as 41-year-old Jason Aydelotte, who has a history of assault and served time in prison.
He was booked on a misdemeanor battery charge with bail set at $5,000 and is scheduled to be released tomorrow.
The man’s Facebook page shows him posing in a photo with swastikas and a friend posting a message approving his “beating up a Mexican newscaster.”
