The Man Who Slapped a Reporter's Butt on Live TV Gave a Ridiculous Excuse For His Behavior

A man who slapped a reporter's butt on live TV is now telling "his side of the story" — and he has an unsurprisingly terrible excuse.

Earlier this week, a clip went viral showing reporter Alex Bozarjian being smacked on the backside by a runner while she was covering a road race in Georgia. Bozarjian appeared visibly shaken by the moment before continuing her report, and later retweeted the clip, writing, "To the man who smacked my butt on live TV this morning: You violated, objectified, and embarrassed me. No woman should EVER have to put up with this at work or anywhere!! Do better."

The man, identified as 43-year-old Tommy Callaway, subsequently sat down for an interview with Inside Edition, during which he said he was going to wave to the camera and "got caught up in the moment."

"I touched her back, I did not know exactly where I touched her," he said. "I did not see her facial reaction because I just kept on running and if I did see her facial reaction, I would have been embarrassed, I would have felt ashamed, and I would have stopped, turned around, and went back and apologized to her."

Though some people called out the framing of CBS This Morning's tweet, which read that he was "telling his side of the story" (there isn't another "side," they argued, when the sexual harassment was caught on camera), CBS's anchors called out Callaway in the clip for not bothering to apologize during his interview.

On Monday, Bozarjian filed a sexual battery report with the Savannah Police Department, saying she wanted the department to pursue charges against Callaway. In a statement Monday, Callaway's attorney W. Joseph Turner said his client "did not act with any criminal intentions."

"It's not OK to help yourself to a woman's body just because you feel like it," Bozarjian told CBS This Morning on Tuesday. "It's not playful. He hurt me, both physically and emotionally."

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