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    Scuffle at Allen Event Under Investigation
    By AJ Lagoe
    WRIC 8 News

    Thursday 02 November 2006

    Charlottesville investigators are looking into possible charges as a result of Tuesday's physical confrontation at an Allen campaign stop.

    That video of the incident is the centerpiece of an investigation that has much of the country watching. 8News Anchor AJ Lagoe sat down with Charlottesville Police Chief to discuss what's happening.

    On Wednesday police served search warrants on the TV stations here in Charlottesville that shot this video of the disturbance at senator Allen's rally - they're now using the video to determine whether the incident warrants criminal charges.

    While the images show what appears to be an assault, police are quick to point out they don't show all of what led up to the physical confrontation.

    Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo says, "The video that you've watched that is a piece of a bigger story. We want to look at all the video that was shot there so we can have a better understanding of what might have occurred before, during the incident and in the immediate aftermath."

    The police department first learned of the incident from a Charlottesville TV report and it wasn't until hours later that, the heckler, Mike Stark, who was thrown to the ground, came in and filed a report alleging he was assaulted.

    Now, police are trying to identify everyone in the video. Chief Longo says, "We have identified a number of people we need to have a discussion with at some point in the next day or so."

    Among those people who will be interviewed, as a witness to the scuffle, will be Senator Allen himself. Investigators say there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

    Chief Longo says, "Was it contact made in self defense or defense of another or unprovoked which would certainly give rise to criminal conduct."

    Charlottesville Police say they plan to present the findings of their investigation to the commonwealth attorney in the next few days.