Virginia Dem pulled over by police for tampering with campaign signs hours before heated election
Virginia Del. Chris Hurst is pulled over in Radford, Va.
Fox News has obtained video footage of Democratic Virginia Del. Chris Hurst getting pulled over by police after Hurst and another person were seen tampering with campaign signs outside a voting site less than 24 hours before Election Day.
"Want to explain your actions?" an officer with the Radford City Police Department is heard asking Hurst in police video obtained by Fox News.
"I don’t think so," Hurst responds.
VIRGINIA DEM CAUGHT BY POLICE TAMPERING WITH CAMPAIGN SIGNS HOURS BEFORE HEATED ELECTION
Hurst was pulled over on Monday evening by the Radford City Police Department after a deputy with the Radford Sheriff's office saw a woman tampering with campaign signs that were on display outside the city recreation center and then getting into a car Hurst was driving, according to Radford Sheriff Mark Armentrout earlier this week.
Democratic Virginia Del. Chris Hurst (https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/members/members.php?id=H0298)
"Do you want to explain your actions about tampering with the voting site up there?" the officer asks Hurst.
"Tampering with the voting site?" Hurst responds.
"Yeah, turning the signs upside down."
Virginia Del. Chris Hurst was pulled over on Monday over tampering with campaign signs.
Hurst goes on to tell the officer he doesn’t have anything to say about it, before the officer asks the woman in the passenger seat of Hurst’s car if she has anything to add. The woman, who has since been identified as Emily Frentress, remained quiet, according to the video.
The officer tells Hurst that what he did was in "poor" taste and also questioned why he was driving with a suspended license. Hurst said he was unaware his license was suspended.
2 CHARGED IN THEFT OF TRUMP CAMPAIGN SIGNS FROM MAINE FRONT YARD: REPORT
The officer in the video later asks him if he's paid his car insurance, which would affect his license and it being suspended. Hurst says he has not received any notices in the mail about his license being suspended.
"I think what y'all need to do, is after I deal with you here, is go back and fix those signs," the officer tells Hurst and Frentress.
Democratic Virginia Del. Chris Hurst (https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/members/members.php?id=H0298)
"You gotta resort to doing this, instead of doing a fair election?" the officer adds, which Hurst begins pushing back.
"Chris, quit, quit playing," the officer responds. "You all are up there turning over signs at the polling area, and you're sitting here acting like you don't know what's going on."
Hurst then defends tampering with the signs as something "everybody over on the other side of the mountain does."
Virginia Del. Chris Hurst was pulled over on Monday over tampering with campaign signs. (Radford Police video )
"I really don't feel like me responding to any questions that an officer has for me, that are kind of asking me to make a value statement on my actions is really kinda immaterial to the question here," Hust responds. "I would think that something that was a little high jinks, steam-blowing-off on and off is exactly what everybody over on the other side of the mountain does and people all over this district do," Hurst tells the officer.
"So you’re gonna resort to that? And represent us?" the officer asks.
"I need you to just do your job here tonight and I’ll do mine," Hurst tells the officer. "I have nothing more to say to you, officer. And I’m sorry for actions that I may have done or my partner may have done. But, umm, I think you’re maybe getting a little emotional here."
"You're supposed to be representing, representing us. And not out here acting like a school kid," the officer says. "How am I supposed to vote for you if you’re out here doing this?"
He ultimately lost his election on Tuesday to Republican challenger Jason Ballard, and conceded at about 10 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Hurst’s office has not responded to multiple Fox News requests for comment on the matter.
He did, however, address the issue on election night, saying, "We flipped over a couple of yard signs, took them, put them upside down and then put them right side up, that’s what we did."
"This has been a real drag-out race. It’s been very competitive and to some degree it’s been sometimes nasty. Election eve, you’ve run a really hard race, a very long campaign and you just do a prank to be a goof and it happens to be done by somebody who is very apologetic for what they’ve done."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
He also addressed his suspended license, explaining that a Jeep he owns didn’t have current insurance, but said, " I have not received a notice from DMV, so was not something I was aware of until the officers informed me of that."
Hurst assumed the delegate office in 2018 and ran this year as an incumbent. Former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe's campaign donated $15,000 to Hurst's campaign on Oct. 19, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
A former journalist, Hurst entered politics after his fiancee, reporter Alison Parker, was shot and killed in 2015 during a live television interview in Moneta, Virginia. He was backed by gun-control groups during his first run, but focused his campaign on education and healthcare.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
