2 face charges in connection to fight at Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith’s town hall

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Two people are facing charges in connection to a fight that broke out at Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s town hall on Wednesday night near Evansville.

Amanda Bennett, of Newburgh, was charged Thursday with a low-level felony count of battery against a public safety official, a misdemeanor count of resisting law enforcement, and two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct. Matthew Eike, also of Newburgh, faces one misdemeanor count of resisting law enforcement and two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct.

Multiple videos and photos obtained by I-Team 8 show the moments Bennett and Eike were arrested inside the Warrick County Ohio Township Trustee’s Office in Newburgh. Members of the Warrick County Sheriff’s Office were inside the building for the event. Several people say the Evansville Police Department and the Newburgh Police Department were also on scene.

“You villainize them,” Kristina Bickle said at the meeting. “You criminalize them. You come here smiling, pretending you’re the good guy because you f****** showed up.”

Bickle was speaking to Beckwith earlier in the night. She was one of about 30 people lined up to make their voices heard.

She and a few others have been to several Beckwith town halls. Multiple people tell I-Team 8 the environment is typically heated.

Moments after sharing her thoughts with Beckwith, she was watching her friend, Bennett, being arrested.

People at the town hall say Bennett and Beckwith had exchanged several shouts throughout the night.

After a few warnings, authorities told her she needed to leave or she would be removed.

“She was leaving peacefully,” Bickle told News 8 on Thursday. “I have it on video that she was leaving peacefully, and then at some point, she gets to the back of the room. Another cop comes down the side of the aisle and intersects with her as she’s trying to come around the back and literally just tackles her.”

“She ran into the sheriff. It’s on video. In my mind, she assaulted him,” Ken Colbert told News 8 on Thursday.

“It is a mental disorder,” Beckwith can be heard saying at the meeting.

Colbert, a Beckwith supporter, captured the arrest on video.

He says people came to the event with plans to get arrested. Bickle says that’s not the case.

Kellie Moore, who is also a friend of Bennett’s, captured another view of the arrest.

“I saw her hands and arms turning people because of how the cuffs were put on,” Moore said Thursday. “I saw Matt telling them to loosen the cuffs so that she could move her hands.”

Both Bennett and Eike were taken to the Warrick County Jail and bonded out Thursday afternoon. Bennett is scheduled to be in Warrick Superior Court 1 at 9 a.m. Sept. 8, and Eike in the same court at 9 a.m. Sept. 5, online records show.

Beckwith only made a brief statement on social media after the town hall, saying that “there were individuals with less than good intentions and resorted to uncivil conduct against each other and law enforcement.”

“The Warrick County Sheriff’s Office is engaged in an investigative review of the incident that occurred at the town hall appearance by Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith on Wednesday evening,” the office said in a Wednesday night statement. “Given the number of persons involved, including two off-duty Warrick County deputies who were providing security support, it will take time to review physical evidence and complete interviews of witnesses and individuals involved in the incident. For that reason, it is premature to make any further comment about the incident until the Sheriff’s Office can complete that investigation. I cannot yet predict the duration of that investigation but can assure the public we will work diligently to understand what happened and who was involved. When the investigation is complete, I will provide additional comment and information.”

People at the event say they’re disheartened by what they saw.

“I feel ashamed of our leadership, our representation in Indiana,” Alee Hofman, who attended the event, said Thursday. “I feel stuck. I didn’t have high expectations for yesterday but I did expect to be heard.”