Heyman claimed during a news conference after he posted bail that the police “decided I was just too persistent in asking this question and trying to do my job and so they arrested me.” He stated that he could not remember how many times he asked the question, but maintains that he received no warning before his arrest.
“It’s dreadful. This is my job, this is what I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to find out if someone is going to be affected by this healthcare law. … I think it is a question that deserves to be answered,” Heyman told The Hill.
The police, on the other hand, wrote in the criminal complaint that Heyman was "aggressively breaching the secret service agents to the point where the agents were forced to remove him a couple of times from the area walking up the hallway in the main building of the Capitol. The defendant was causing a disturbance by yelling at Ms. Conway and Secretary Price.”
Price’s visit concluded with a news conference, which Heyman could have attended to ask his questions.
"As the criminal complaint explains, this is not about someone trying to ask questions," Lawrence Messina, director of communication for West Virginia's Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, which oversees the capitol police, told The Hill.
Messina noted that there were other reporters present and asking questions without incident.
"The individual repeatedly tried to push his way past secret service agents who were providing for the safety and security for an event at the state capitol. There were other reporters present who asked questions without incident," he said.
