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Georgia youth minister who slapped reporter's butt on live TV pleads guilty to sexual battery, apologizes

Thomas Callaway, 44, was sentenced to one year of probation, fined $1,000, and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA: A married youth minister who slapped a female reporter's behind on live television pleaded guilty to a sexual battery charge and apologized to the victim in court. Thomas Callaway, 44, was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $1,000 by a Savannah judge who accepted his plea for the misdemeanor, according to CBS News. The judge also ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service.

Callaway was arrested and charged last December after he was caught on camera swatting the back of WSAV-TV reporter Alex Bozarjian, 23, as she was reporting on a Savannah road race. The youth minister had been one amongst hundreds of participants and reached out to slap Bozarjian's behind as he ran past her. A video clip of the incident, which shows a visibly stunned Bozarjian processing what had just happened, was viewed over 12 million times after she uploaded it on Twitter. "To the man who smacked my butt on live TV this morning: You violated, objectified, and embarrassed me. No woman should EVER have to put up with this at work or anywhere!! Do better," she wrote. Bozarjian went on to make an appearance on CBS' 'This Morning,' where she claimed that Callaway had not only slapped her hard enough to startle her but also to physically hurt her.

WSAV-TV similarly condemned the incident as "reprehensible and completely unacceptable," before adding that "no one should ever be disrespected in this manner. The safety and protection of our employees is WSAV-TV's highest priority." 

While Callaway's identity was initially not known, the 44-year-old later came forward to claim responsibility and apologized to the reporter, stating his actions were "awful" and that he had made a mistake. He claimed he wasn't trying to hit her behind and that he had been raising his arm to pat her on the back or the shoulder.

"I was getting ready to bring my hands up and wave to the camera to the audience, there was a misjudge in character and decision-making," he told Inside Edition. "I touched her back; I did not know exactly where I touched her."

Following his sentencing on Tuesday, September 1, Bozarjian told WSAV-TV outside the courtroom that she had finally accepted his apology and that she hoped the minister would strive to "do better" in the future as he had promised her.

"A non-consensual butt slap may seem harmless to some people. Other people would go as far as to call it flattering, but that’s obviously a toxic thought pattern because what Mr. Callaway did on that bridge validates the idea that I don’t deserve my own personal space," she explained. "It also reinforces the belief that as a woman, my body doesn’t belong to me."

The 23-year-old acknowledged that she understands his behavior has "probably disrupted his life more than he ever imagined" but that "nobody has a right to touch anybody or slap anybody for their own amusement."

"He has tried to apologize a number of times," she continued. "I have all my power intact today and I forgave him. All I really hope is that, going forward in the future he will do better."