09-24-2010, 10:08 AM
Supporters of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and his GOP challenger Sharron Angle brawled at the end of a Senate race forum at a local Christian school.
A half-dozen bystanders tried to separate the combatants, one male Angle backer and two female Reid supporters, before security guards intervened.
"I didn't expect anything like this, not in a million years," said the Rev. Robin Joyce, one of the organizers of the event at Faith Lutheran Junior/Senior High School in Summerlin. "Our whole aim was to have an educational forum to hear from the candidates about their economic positions."
Instead, tempers flared in the high-stakes race between the Democratic incumbent and the Tea Party upstart three weeks before early voting starts Oct. 16.
"He punched me twice, so I punched him back twice," Kay Mehta said as she nursed a red, tearing eye and waited for police to arrive. "I was just defending myself."
No arrests were made. Police interviewed those involved for a report on the incident. The names of all of the participants were not released.
A half-dozen bystanders tried to separate the combatants, one male Angle backer and two female Reid supporters, before security guards intervened.
"I didn't expect anything like this, not in a million years," said the Rev. Robin Joyce, one of the organizers of the event at Faith Lutheran Junior/Senior High School in Summerlin. "Our whole aim was to have an educational forum to hear from the candidates about their economic positions."
Instead, tempers flared in the high-stakes race between the Democratic incumbent and the Tea Party upstart three weeks before early voting starts Oct. 16.
"He punched me twice, so I punched him back twice," Kay Mehta said as she nursed a red, tearing eye and waited for police to arrive. "I was just defending myself."
No arrests were made. Police interviewed those involved for a report on the incident. The names of all of the participants were not released.