Penguins CEO and president David Morehouse assisted in saving KDKA-TV cameraman Ian Smith after he was attacked while covering protests in Downtown Pittsburgh.
As Saturday’s protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police turned violent, Smith said he was dragged to the ground by rioters and struck repeatedly near PPG Paints Arena’s entrance facing Centre Avenue. Additionally, his camera was destroyed. Morehouse, it turned out, helped Smith get inside the facility, said longtime KDKA personality Larry Richert.
A team spokesperson confirmed Morehouse’s role in assisting Smith but declined further comment.
Smith was hospitalized with injuries, including to his head. KDKA-TV reporter Paul Martino, who was with Smith during the protests, also was hospitalized after he experienced chest pains.
After his ordeal, Smith posted an image of his injuries on Twitter.
I’m was attacked by protestors downtown by the arena. They stomped and kicked me. I’m bruised and bloody but alive. My camera was destroyed. Another group of protesters pulled me out and saved my life. Thank you! @KDKA pic.twitter.com/clyANKodth
— Ian Smith (@ismithKDKA) May 30, 2020
Kevin Acklin, senior vice president and general counsel for the Penguins, posted a photo on Twitter of Smith as well as an unidentified attacker and a Good Samaritan.
This a still shot from our full video from PPG Paints Arena, which shows a black woman actually trying to stop the initial attack on the KDKA TV cameraman on Centre Avenue. pic.twitter.com/YpSXo9ws4U
— Kevin Acklin (@kevinacklin) May 31, 2020
Smith initially was unaware of Morehouse’s assistance.
“I had called Ian, and Ian at that time was actually in Mercy Hospital,” said Richert, a longtime associate of Smith’s. “He was laying down on a stretcher waiting to get a CT scan. I asked him, ‘Do you know who helped you? Who saved you?’ He said, ‘I don’t. I would really love to know.’ When I hung up with him, I texted Paul Martino asking if he was all right, and he told me it was David Morehouse that helped save those guys.
“Paul said they were saying — and Ian reiterated — this group (of assailants) was saying to kill him, meaning Ian. He was taking hits to he head. They destroyed his camera. He was traumatized by it, no doubt. David Morehouse was able to intervene. In that moment with a burning police car and people beating someone up, that’s a pretty brave thing to do.”
Richert said Smith and Martino were at home by Sunday. A spokesperson for KDKA-TV declined to comment.
Richert has known Morehouse for several years, dating to Morehouse’s political career before he joined the Penguins as a consultant in 2004, and reached out to him after the episode.
“I know he’s going to be humble, and he’s going to say ‘I’m not a hero,’ ” Richert said. “I texted (a message) to him, ‘That’s the Beechview guy in you that reacted.’ He texted back to say he believed any of his friends would have done the same thing in the same situation, his neighborhood (friends) he grew up with.
“You never know in a moment’s notice how you’re going to react as a person in a situation that’s very volatile and very dangerous. It didn’t matter that he was the Penguins’ president. Nobody cared about any of that. He was just reaching out as a human being to help somebody else at tremendous risk to himself. To me, that’s a heroic act.”
The team declined to comment on the statue outside of the arena of co-owner Mario Lemieux, which was vandalized with spray paint during the protests.
