News Crew Attack: Rhode Island Reporter Abby Niezgoda Bitten by Pit Bull While Trying to Conduct Interview (Video)

By Jared Feldschreiber | Jun 06, 2013 10:38 AM EDT

Melissa Lawrence, a Rhode Island woman, has been charged with assault after she threw a rock, waved a baseball bat and urged her pit bull dogs to attack a news crew reporting on a kindergarten party shooting involving her child, the Associated Press reported.

WLNE-TV reported that its cameraman and reporter Abby Niezgoda wre trying to speak to Lawrence, the mother of the victim, after a teenage boy turned himself into police.

Video showed that Lawrence threw a rock at the cameraman, wielded a bat, and screamed, "Get away from me." She then directed her two pit bulls to attack Niezgoda, and one dog was seen biting her on her forearm.

As a result of the bites, Niezgoda received a tetanus shot.

The Providence Journal reported that Lawrence was released on personal recognizance on Wednesday after pleading not guilty to assault charges.

The attacked happened on on Public Street in Providence. Niezgoda was attempting to get Lawrence's reaction of the shooting involving her child.

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