A video showing a man walking up to a panel of OBGYNs at a May conference in Baltimore, and slapping the speaker and accusing him of sexually assaulting his wife, has gone viral on Twitter.
The video was posted last Friday by an anonymous user in response to another doctor asking for clarification of an email sent by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) following its 2023 Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting.
The video contains a lot of language from the man who slapped the doctor. The man accuses the doctor of having sexually assaulted his wife several years earlier.
Baltimore Police confirmed the physical assault on the doctor at the conference, telling us it happened on Saturday, May 20th at 4:33pm.
"The assaulted individual stated that he did not want to file criminal charges or file a report against the individual who physically assaulted him and that he would prefer the individual be escorted off the premises," says a spokesperson for the department.
The ACOG released a statement on Twitter Thursday afternoon, addressing the video with 1.3 million views on Twitter, and seeming to verify its authenticity.
We are aware of a recent video posted of an incident that occurred at ACOG’s Annual Clinical & Scientific Meeting. We want to make clear that we take every measure possible to create a safe environment for our members and do not tolerate violence of any kind. 1/2
— ACOG (@acog) June 1, 2023
The statement goes on to say, "We recognize that those who witnessed the incident in person or online may have experienced trauma as a result, including many of you who have experienced sexual assault or other violence in the past."
Based on the panelists in the video and the timing of the assault as confirmed by BPD, we've been able to identify the doctor who was hit in the video, however we will not be using his name as no charges have been filed against him.
He does practice medicine at Stony Brook Medicine.
WMAR-2 News reached out to Stony Brook University and Medicine for a statement. Officials with the University provided the following:
"We take this matter seriously. Stony Brook University officials are reviewing the circumstances and taking the necessary measures to address any issues resulting from this incident."
We've reached out to ACOG to see if they plan to further investigate the allegations of sexual assault.
Another video appears to show the alleged victim say she had reported this doctor previously, we've also asked ACOG if they have a record of this and what the outcome of that was.
On Friday afternoon, June 2, ACOG responded with the following statement:
“ACOG is aware of a security incident that occurred between two individuals at the recent Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting. Security protocols were followed, and the situation was rapidly addressed by plainclothes security and eventually the Baltimore Police Department.
“Safety of our members and meeting attendees is a top priority. ACOG works hard to provide safe, secure environments at all of our meetings, including ACSM. ACOG does not condone violence of any kind, including sexual assault. We have strong, clear statements and policies in opposition to harassment, including sexual harassment at ACOG and in any professional setting. We cannot provide additional details because of confidentiality obligations and would refer you to the appropriate legal authorities for anything further.”
