Bully officer threatens to send kid reporter to juvy, but kid doesn't back down

A reporter for Pennsylvania's Orange Street News rode her bike near the Arizona-Mexico border on an assignment when a marshal in the town of Patagonia threatened to arrest her. He wanted her to stop what she was doing. The reporter, Hilde Lysiak, is only 12 years old.

According to her story in the Orange Street News, when she gave him her name and phone number and told him she was working for a news organization, he said, "I don't want to hear about any of that freedom of the press stuff. I'm going to have you arrested and thrown in juvey."

A bit later, she approached him to ask what he meant about sending her to juvey. "What exactly am I doing that's illegal?"

He tells her if she puts his face on the Internet it's against the law in Arizona. He then talks in circles, not ever giving a valid reason of how she was breaking the law.

Via USA Today:

He went on to tell her that he was worried about her safety and had told her not to follow the marshals because they were going into an area where people have seen mountain lions. From Patterson's perspective, Hilde had ignored a lawful order, the video shows.

Hilde wasn't satisfied.

"Yeah, how is that illegal?" Hilde asked. "I understand that you're concerned about the safety, but what exactly am I doing?"

Patterson insisted she disobeyed and also lied about where she was going. He told her she originally said she was going to her friend's house when he first stopped her, and instead she followed him, the video shows.

"You can lie to your mother, you can lie to your father, you can lie to your priest, but you can't lie to a law-enforcement officer," Patterson told her.

The officer then says he'll be contacting her parents before he took off in his truck.

The town of Patagonia claims on their website that the marshal is being disciplined, but doesn't give any details on what that looks like.

Meanwhile, Lysiak, the youngest member of the Society of Professional Journalists, tweeted that she's glad the town is taking action, but doesn't want people harassing the marshal online. "My focus is on protecting our First Amendment Rights."

This is one amazing kid and I look forward to seeing where she's at 10 years from now.

I am glad the town has "taken action" but one note, I don't believe people should spread around the Marshal's personal information on the internet. My focus is on protecting our First Amendment Rights. Thank you. https://t.co/6EzvBd1C7w

- Hilde Lysiak (@orangestreetnew) February 21, 2019