A 70-year-old Laconia, New Hampshire, man was arrested Wednesday morning and charged in the Election Day slapping of a young Turning Point volunteer outside a city polling place, according to Laconia police as reported by WMUR.
Police said Stephen Redic was taken into custody just before 8 a.m. Wednesday on an arrest warrant, WMUR reported. He is charged with misdemeanor simple assault and violation-level disorderly conduct, and he is scheduled to be arraigned in Laconia on Dec. 10, according to WMUR and Boston 25 News.
The Post's Lydia Moynihan breaks down the viral footage of an enraged older man who slapped a young Turning Point volunteer at a polling location in New Hampshire. pic.twitter.com/RShh5sK2Ys
— New York Post (@nypost) November 4, 2026
What police say happened
Officers were called to Woodland Heights Elementary School, the Ward 5 polling location, just before 3 p.m. Tuesday for a reported assault, Boston 25 News reported, citing police. The victim told officers he was at the Turning Point USA informational booth when a man approached him “to read a poem about rich people,” police said, according to Boston 25 News.
The two got into a debate, and the man became agitated and began yelling before striking the victim with the back of his right hand across the right side of his face, police said, according to WMUR. Police said they located video evidence and several witnesses during the investigation, which led to the warrant, WMUR reported.
Laconia Police Chief Matt Canfield told The Laconia Daily Sun on Tuesday that the strike appeared intentional. “It wasn’t a brush,” Canfield told the paper.
The video
Video of the confrontation spread widely online Tuesday night. According to The Laconia Daily Sun’s description of the footage, the man told the volunteer he had “no idea who I am,” and the volunteer replied that the man had not presented a single statistic. The man then gave the volunteer the middle finger, stepped forward and slapped him in the mouth before walking away, the Daily Sun reported. Bystanders could be heard saying he should be arrested, according to the paper.
The Laconia Daily Sun identified the Turning Point workers at the Ward 5 booth as brothers Rainer and Asher Vesey of Old Lyme, Connecticut. Rainer Vesey, 18, has been widely praised online for staying calm and not retaliating during the exchange.
Officials condemn the attack
Laconia Mayor Mike Bordes shared the video on Facebook and called the incident “absolutely disgusting and completely unacceptable,” WMUR reported. Bordes, a Republican state representative, went to the Ward 5 polls after hearing about the incident to meet the young man, according to The Laconia Daily Sun.
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan also condemned the incident. “There’s no place for that in New Hampshire elections,” Scanlan told WMUR, according to IBTimes. “Passions run high in politics and on voting day, but there is absolutely no reason to assault any type of individual at the polling place.”
Canfield told the Daily Sun that there were no other issues at city polls that he knew of, other than a question about how far the Turning Point booth had to be from the polling place, and he said “they didn’t do anything wrong.”
Why it matters
The arrest came after a night of mounting pressure online, where users had repeatedly asked whether anyone would be held accountable for the attack. Turning Point volunteers set up get-out-the-vote booths at polling locations across New Hampshire on Tuesday, according to The Laconia Daily Sun. For many conservatives, the quick arrest is a reminder that young people engaging peacefully in politics should be able to do so without being struck.
The charges are allegations, and Redic is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Daily Beltway could not immediately reach him for comment.
Sources
- WMUR: 70-year-old man accused of assaulting Turning Point member at NH polling site
- Boston 25 News: Man accused of assaulting worker at Turning Point USA booth
- The Laconia Daily Sun: Police investigating alleged assault of Turning Point PAC staffer at poll
- WMUR: Police investigate alleged assault at polling location in Laconia
- IBTimes
Sources cited
- https://www.wmur.com/article/man-assault-turning-point-arrest/74333117
- https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/man-accused-assaulting-worker-turning-point-usa-booth-polling-location-new-hampshire/TY4SY5ASOBAAPISKDZYQXRMVCA/
- https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news/local/police-investigating-alleged-assault-of-turning-point-pac-staffer-at-poll/article_850e5e8a-6ba8-4645-9377-6dc24d103156.html
- https://www.wmur.com/article/alleged-assault-election-laconia-110326/74327159
- https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/new-hampshire-polling-station-slap-investigation-1830183
Sources
- Original post: New York Post (@nypost) on X, Nov 3, 2026
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