A Bladen County man was charged Tuesday with assaulting a Raleigh television station camera man, Sheriff Jim McVicker said.
Donald Hales, 67, of 1768 N.C. 242 North, has been charged with assault inflicting serious bodily injury. He was given a $50,000 unsecured bond and placed on house arrest by Magistrate David Simmons.
Jay Jennings, 57, of Cary, told authorities he was shooting video for a WRAL documentary about the Joseph Sledge case when a man approached him and told him to get off the property. Jennings was at the house where the murders took place in the 1970s.
Jennings told authorities that he began to gather his equipment and walk toward his van when he was struck from behind with a cane by Hales, McVicker said. The incident took place about 2 p.m. off N.C. 242 just north of N.C. 53, McVicker said.
Jennings was taken to Bladen County Hospital for treatment of a head injury and was released.
About Author
