New Hampshire poet arrested after slapping Turning Point volunteer at Laconia polling place

Stephen Redic, a 70-year-old poet, was taken into custody on Wednesday morning after allegedly striking an 18-year-old Turning Point Action volunteer in the face outside a Laconia, New Hampshire, elementary school. The school functioned as a polling place on Tuesday.

Laconia Police Department officers detained Redic around 8 a.m. on Wednesday. He now faces two charges: simple assault, a misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct, a violation. Chief Matthew Canfield stated that the department had no prior contacts with the suspect.

A police press release details that Redic approached the Turning Point tent while leaving the area. He declared he wanted to read a poem about rich people. The poem itself does not appear in widely shared video of the encounter. Instead, the footage captures the victim attempting to engage in debate while Redic grows louder and more agitated.

Witnesses in the video heard Redic shout, "You sit there and dare to look me in the face and say I don't know anything?" He jabbed his finger toward the victim before backhanding him across the face. Redic then walked away, uttering an expletive as he left. Bystanders reacted with surprise, and voices off-camera discussed calling the police.

Redic published a book of poems titled "Tying My Shoes" in 2023. In that work, he boasted of meeting every U.S. president since Dwight D. Eisenhower. He is scheduled for an arraignment on Dec. 10. As of Wednesday afternoon, it was not immediately clear if he had retained a lawyer, and he did not immediately respond to attempts to reach him.

The incident occurred 14 months after Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action, was assassinated at Utah Valley University under a similar tent. Kirk's accused killer, Tyler Robinson, is due in court on Monday for a hearing that could set a trial date. Robinson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.