A Democratic activist who verbally confronted U.S. Sen. George Allen (R) at a campaign rally in Charlottesville today was shoved, put into a chokehold and thrown against a window by three men wearing Allen stickers, according to a widely disseminated video of the incident.
W. Michael Stark, who identified himself in an e-mail after the incident as a law student, yelled a question at Allen about whether he had ever spit on his first wife, an unsubstantiated charge that has been circulating on liberal blogs on the Internet. Allen supporters hauled him away from the senator as television cameras rolled....
The event was caught on tape by a local television station, and was broadcast widely on CNN today. Within hours, the video was also uploaded to YouTube, a video-sharing Web site.
In the video, Stark can be seen being shoved back by several Allen supporters. A man puts a choke hold on Stark, who wiggles out and struggles. The man then wrestles Stark to the ground, knocking his head on a window.
You can see the video, and still photos of it, here. There's an even better video clip here. In this last clip, it's clear there was no provocation for the assault.
