Shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday, Telemundo 62 reporter Iris Delgado was doing a live broadcast outside city hall in Philadelphia. She was reporting on a soda tax that is about to be passed in the City of Brotherly Love. A city council committee had just unanimously passed a measure that would add a 1.5 cent tax to every ounce of drinks that include sugar or artificial sweeteners.
As she was doing her report a woman approaches Delgado on her right. While the reporter continues her broadcast, the woman tries to get her attention by pulling at her sleeve and saying, “Excuse me, excuse me.” Delgado ignores her.
The station eventually goes to a split screen showing both the reporter and the anchor in the studio. The woman can then be seen slapping and punching Delgado in the head. At that point the station cut back to showing just the anchor. What is not seen in the video is the woman grabbing Delgado’s hair and knocking her to the ground.
The anchor, Ramon Zayas, then says, “Ay Dios mio! Esperemos que esté bien” (Oh, my god. We hope she’s okay.)
The crew with Delgado made sure she was okay and then followed the woman until police arrived. Weehedah Wilson, 37, of Philadelphia, was arrested and she faces charges of assault and recklessly endangering another person. Wilson has a criminal record drug possession with intent to sell and as of Friday night she remained in custody.
According to the police report, Delgado told officers she had some pain on the right side of her head but would get treatment later. Telemundo 62 released a statement saying the reporter was okay but was taking some time off to recover. The station also praised its employees who were with Delgado for looking after her after the attack and for helping to apprehend the suspect.
A motive for the unprovoked attack has not yet been determined.
