Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

The Republic | azcentral.com

DPS said one person was arrested at the House of Representatives

Video shows lawmakers looking on as the arrest occured

A man was arrested in the gallery of the Arizona House of Representatives minutes after a rowdy hearing to uncover the root of the problems that plagued last week's election.

In the latest episode in a week of turmoil over the primary, six troopers carried out a man who was disrupting the business of the House of Representatives, said Captain Damon Cecil of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The man had refused to leave the chamber, Cecil said, even though he and three others were repeatedly asked to leave by the House Sergeant at Arms.

Cecil said the man refused to give his name to troopers and he was being booked into the county's 4th Avenue Jail. He will be charged with trespassing and resisting arrest, he said.

The spectacle occurred one floor above the hearing rooms that were packed for hours with hundreds of outraged voters who voiced — and screamed — their complaints about the handling of the presidential preference election last week. It is unclear if the man who was arrested attended the hearing, Cecil said.

DPS said the man was part of a group of four people who were chanting and yelling as the House of Representatives was meeting. The Sergeant at Arms asked them to leave, said Cecil, and three left peacefully.

"One person did not leave — he stayed," Cecil said. "He was no longer being disruptive, but the Sergeant at Arms wanted him removed. Once everyone else had left, he stayed, and the Sergeant at Arms asked him to leave again.

Troopers were then asked to remove the man.

"He clamped down on the seat that was there — on the armrest," Cecil said. "And troopers had to physically remove his arm ... from the armrest."

During the arrest, Cecil said some in a nearby crowd were "chanting and screaming and touching officers."

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