Staff Reports
The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office has taken a welcome step toward accountability after video showed a University of Michigan student shove a conservative commentator to the ground and scream death threats while being led away by police. Prosecutors authorized criminal charges based on the evidence sent to them — a response that should be routine but is increasingly rare on college campuses where political violence is too often treated as a campus trend rather than a crime.
Prosecutors Authorize Charges — What That Means
The office, led by Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney Eli Savit, reviewed the materials sent by campus police and authorized one count of assaulting, resisting or obstructing an officer and two counts of assault or assault and battery. An administrative staffer in the prosecutor’s office said they “thoroughly reviewed the evidence” and that a felony warrant will be issued and a court date set once the defendant is arraigned. That is the proper sequence: evidence, charging decision, and then the courtroom, not shouting opinions on social media and calling it justice.
Video, Threats, and the Arrest
The video that circulated online is vivid and ugly. It shows the student identified in reporting as Temulun Togochog approaching a table where commentator Liz Benichou and others were speaking, shoving people and knocking Benichou to the ground. Body-camera footage and bystander video captured the student resisting officers and yelling what was reported as a clear death threat while being taken into custody. Those are facts that call for police action and a prosecutor’s review — not shrugged shoulders and vague campus statements.
University Response and the Charging Process
The university rightly issued the usual line that physical violence has no place on campus and said it is committed to free expression. But platitudes don’t substitute for consequences. University police described the gathering as unpermitted and said officers saw the shove happen as people were packing up. The prosecutor’s office authorized assault counts but — for clarity — has not announced any ethnic‑intimidation or hate‑crime enhancement at this stage. That decision will rest on evidence and Michigan law, and the public should watch to see whether prosecutors pursue any bias-related charges as the record develops.
Why This Matters — Free Speech, Safety, and Accountability
This should be straightforward. Campus speech can be ugly. People can say things others find offensive. That’s protected in a free society. What is not protected is physical violence or threats. Prosecutors did their job by authorizing charges; now the courts must do theirs. If the system holds, the message will be clear: assaulting speakers and threatening violence carries legal consequences, no matter the politics. If the system falters, universities will keep being places where speech is a test, and force is the answer. Conservatives who believe in both free speech and law and order should keep watching this case closely — and demand that the university and prosecutors see it through to a fair ending.
