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TV Reporter Colleen Campbell Fired After Obscene Arrest Video Went Viral, Alleges She May Have Been Drugged

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 12:14 PST, Jun 7, 2017

A young Philadelphia TV reporter’s career is no more following a drunken night out. Colleen Campell was employed by PHL 17 on June 4; that’s when she got into an obscenity-laden altercation with police outside of Helium Comedy Club. The 28-year-old TV personality had reportedly been asked to leave the establishment after being repeatedly warned about disrupting comedian Craig Robinson’s performance. On her way out the door, Campell reportedly got into a fight with the club’s bar staff, which only added to her troubles.

Once outside the club, Colleen Campell continued to tangle with police, verbally berating the staff that ejected her from the club. The entire incident was caught on tape by New York-based comedian Wil Sylvince, who later posted the video to social media. Initially, officers appeared keen on letting Campell (despite her vulgar insults and inappropriate behavior) simply go home and sleep it off. Even after she called them “f*****g dictators.”

“You guys are f*****g dictators…you f*****g c**k suckers. I did not do s**t, I stood there and laughed like the rest of the audience like I should. I did not disrupt anybody.”

As Fox News reports, then-TV reporter Colleen Campbell was joined on the sidewalk with a seemingly embarrassed unidentified male guest who seemed to be doing his best to simply shut her up and get her away from the escalating situation. An officer on scene advised the pair to “just walk away.”

“Lick my a*****e. How about that?”

Even after the responding officer tried to cut Campbell a break, she can be seen in the viral video continuing her confrontational, profane tirade. The TV reporter proceeded to respond to the officer’s suggestion that she simply leave the scene of the drama by calling him a “f*****g piece of s**t,” then attempting to spit in the face of another man on the sidewalk.

It was at that point that the responding officer took Colleen Campbell into custody. As he cuffed her, Campbell continued her verbal assault, accusing the officer of using a taser despite the fact that he was simply putting her into a pair of handcuffs. The reporter also loudly questioned the officer as to why she was being arrested; he responded by telling her it was for assault related to the spitting. All the while, Campbell’s male companion was urging her to calm down.

“What’s that called? What’s that called? Assault? Show me videotape. You can’t. That’s why everybody hates you guys! You can’t prove it!”

As she was taken into custody, Campbell declared that she was a TV reporter.

“‘I work at a f*****g news station, motherf****r!”

Philly Mag reports that Colleen Campbell’s violent behavior didn’t stop when the video ended. According to the responding officer, who has been dubbed “the world’s most patient cop” and “cop of the year” for his exceedingly calm response to the entire mind-boggling situation, after the filming ended, Campbell kicked him repeatedly, and also kicked the doors and windows of his police cruiser.

Ultimately, Campbell was fired from her job as a TV reporter at PHL 17 after the unbelievably vulgar video of her arrest went viral. She is also facing pending charges of simple assault, terroristic threats, hindering apprehension, and failure to disperse. Two of those charges are felonies.

When she finally spoke out about her arrest, Colleen Campbell said that she believes she may have been drugged leading up to the incident. She claimed to only having two drinks at Helium on Sunday night, and afterward, she says that “everything was foggy.” The former TV reporter says that she’s had to delete all of her social media accounts because of the incident.

“Everything was foggy. I do remember coming in to Helium. I do remember getting into an altercation there, but I don’t remember what it was about. I only had two drinks at Helium. I feel awful. That’s not me or how I speak or how I talk or how I was raised. I had to delete all my social media, because I’m getting threats. I wanna apologize to the officer. I don’t remember the whole altercation at all. I remember feeling attacked. I would never talk like that. It was like watching a whole different me.”

Some on social media claim that Colleen Campbell’s account of the night in question has changed since Sunday and that she initially claimed to have had just one drink. She also later admitted to having drinks at Cantina, another bar.

In a separate statement sent to Fox 29 via her spokesperson, Campbell claimed point-blank that she believes she was “unknowingly drugged.” The reporter added that she did not undergo any tests to confirm the presence of drugs while she was in custody.

“My actions on that video are not the result of a handful of drinks spaced out over a couple of hours. I believe I may have been unknowingly drugged at some point that night. I did not receive medical testing while in custody because, as I recall, I was advised by personnel at the police station that such testing would delay the process of my being released.”

According to her spokesman, since the video of her profane tirade and arrest has gone viral, former TV reporter Colleen Campbell has received “thousands of lewd and threatening phone calls, texts, messages, and emails ranging from angry, profane, and defamatory insults to deeply disturbing sexual and violent threats.”

[Featured Image by Philadelphia Police Department]

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