EVANSVILLE — Deputies booked Indiana House candidate Kellie Moore into the Warrick County jail Thursday after a judge issued a warrant for her arrest in connection with Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s chaotic Aug. 20 town hall in Newburgh.
The town hall Beckwith hosted at the Ohio Township Trustee’s Office ended after deputies arrested two attendees, Amanda Bennett and Matthew Eike.
Moore, a Democrat running for the District 64 seat of the Indiana House of Representatives, also attended but was not arrested on the spot. A Warrick County judge issued a warrant for her arrest Wednesday after prosecutors charged her with one count of battery against a public safety official, a Level 6 felony.
The town hall was a tense affair from the start. Throughout, some of the attendees shouted at and jeered Beckwith, an outspoken conservative with a populist flair who was quick to offer his own verbal retorts.
The back-and-forth boiled over as Bennett, 38, repeatedly shouted profanities at Beckwith and was ordered to leave. Her subsequent altercation with Deputy Dan Bullock, who was working off-duty for Beckwith’s security detail, culminated in Bullock tackling her to the ground, propelling the already contentious gathering toward a chaotic climax.
Prosecutors would go on to accuse Bennett of striking Bullock prior to her arrest. She faces one felony county of battery against a public safety official, one misdemeanor count of resisting law enforcement and two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, according to court records.
Eike, 40, was arrested amidst the furor over Bennett’s altercation with Bullock and is charged with resisting law enforcement and two counts of disorderly conduct, all misdemeanors.
According to sworn court filings, the sheriff’s office sought Moore’s arrest after a review of surveillance footage allegedly showed that Moore also “struck” Bullock “in an aggressive manner.”
In a previous statement to the Courier & Press, Moore denied laying a hand on the deputy.
“I did not touch him,” she told the Courier & Press last week, when the accusation against her first appeared in affidavits supporting Bennett’s and Eike’s charges. “And I have the whole thing on video.”
Moore was released from jail Thursday after posting a $1,000 cash bond, according to court records.
Despite her later arrest, Moore was allowed to leave Beckwith’s town hall of her own accord and maintains that no law enforcement officers accused her of wrongdoing while she was present at the event.
In a sworn affidavit supporting Bennett’s and Eike’s arrests, WCSO Sgt. Thomas Rohl wrote that a subsequent review of surveillance footage captured inside the Ohio Township Trustee’s Office led him to seek the battery charge against Moore.
Kellie Moore (left) speaks with a Warrick County Sheriff’s deputy in the aftermath of Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s chaotic town hall in Newburgh, Indiana, on Aug. 20, 2025.
Writing in a later affidavit supporting Moore’s arrest, Rohl asserted that the footage “clearly shows contact was made” between Moore and Bullock.
“While (Bullock) was still attempting to escort Amanda (Bennett) outside, Kellie reached out and struck Bullock in an aggressive manner,” Rohl wrote.
Rohl added that Moore also yelled at Bullock and was seen “causing a disturbance.”
The affidavit does not explain why Bullock did not seek Moore’s arrest immediately after she allegedly struck him or why Moore was not taken into custody immediately after the conclusion of the town hall.
To date, the surveillance footage cited by the WCSO in court documents has not been publicly released, though bystander videos and footage captured by reporters depict portions of Bennett’s and Moore’s interactions with law enforcement.
When the Courier & Press requested a copy of the surveillance footage from the WCSO, Sheriff Mike Wilder said the videos were “the property of the Ohio Township Trustee.”
The Courier & Press submitted a request under Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act to the Ohio Township Trustee’s Office for the footage, and on Wednesday Township Trustee Chad Bennett said the office was working to fulfill the request.
While Rohl’s probable cause affidavits against Moore, Bennett and Eike have been publicly released through the courts, the sheriff’s office has so far declined to make public Bullock’s subsequent police report documenting the town hall and his interactions with attendees.
The Courier & Press requested a copy of Bullock’s report from the WCSO after an Evansville television station reported that Bullock referred to Bennett and other attendees as “professional protesters” in his written account of the town hall.
On behalf of the sheriff’s office, Clifford Whitehead, an attorney with Ziemer, Stayman, Weitzel and Shoulders, wrote that Bullock’s report was exempt from public disclosure because it is an “investigatory record.”
According to CBS affiliate WEVV–44 News, Bullock’s police report alleged that several “professional protesters” whose repeated shouting “did not appear genuine; appeared fake, rehearsed, and very provocative” had attempted to sow “chaos” at Beckwith’s town hall.
After Bennett was ordered to leave and Bullock began to escort her to an exit, Bullock reportedly wrote that Bennett screamed at him and pushed him. Bullock then took Bennett to the ground and handcuffed her.
“The crowd was closing in around us and the professional protestors were trying to provoke more chaos,” the deputy’s report says, according to 44 News.
In an Aug. 22 statement, Wilder said an internal use-of-force review found no wrongdoing on the part of deputies during the town hall.
“I hope we can all conclude that it’s possible to disagree on important issues without resorting to obscene shouts, raised voices and intruding on the rights of others to participate and be heard,” Wilder statement reads. “I hope they will also conclude that it’s possible to protest passionately without assaulting a law enforcement officer trying to do his job.”
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Indiana House candidate Kellie Moore arrested after Beckwith town hall