Published: January 29, 2007 11:28 am      

Harrison says scuffle was ‘most humiliating experience’ of his life

It was the most humiliating experience in his life, state Rep. Terry Harrison said about a scuffle at the Southeast Expo Center.

Harrison, D-McAlester, was visiting areas damaged by the Jan. 13 ice storm when, as part of the damage tour, he stopped off at the Southeast Expo Center on Jan. 17.

He, his father and Ricky Wall wandered away from the main group looking at damage with Gov. Brad Henry and went to a specialized catering trailer on the south side of the Expo Center. Harrison’s father and Wall went to one end of the trailer, while Harrison himself went to the other.

That’s where the scuffle occurred.

Dallas Green, a caterer from Weatherford, Texas, who was in McAlester to help feed electrical company crews brought in to restore power to the area, says Harrison didn’t identify himself and started the scuffle.

Harrison says that’s not the way it was at all.

“I never even had a chance to identify myself,” he said. “The first thing was he started cussing me and telling me to get off his ... trailer.”

“He walked up and threw me off the trailer,” Harrison said. “I have no ill feelings for him, but I have no compassion for him either.

“I think the guy thought I was someone else.”

Harrison said that after he and Green fell from the trailer to the ground and were separated, Green grabbed a broom and began taunting him. “He was like a little Bantam rooster, walking back and forth and yelling at me,” Harrison said. “When law enforcement showed up, he immediately transformed from the Bantam rooster.”

Harrison said he has been to the hospital on two different occasions since the scuffle and still has pain from where he landed on the asphalt. “This has been horrible,” he said. “It’s been the most humiliating experience of my life, partly because everybody was talking about it even before you put it in the newspaper.

“I have a lot more compassion for crime victims now than I used to, because now I understand what they go through. Not only are you a victim, but then you have to keep explaining yourself and what happened.

“It’s horrible.”

Green was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery. He is currently free on a $500 bond.

Contact Doug Russell at drussell@mcalesternews.com.