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September 18th, 2012

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In the early hours of Friday, June 22, Benny Ragner, a member of Viborg Council representing Dansk Folkeparti, stopped off for a snack at Crown Pizzeria in his hometown after a night out.

When the 57-year-old politician went to pay for his pizza, he required some extra cash, so asked to withdraw more than the amount for his pizza. But Ragner’s wasn’t a standard request: he wanted to withdraw 100,000 kroner over the price of his food.

Crown Pizzeria employee Hekmat Khademi, a 25-year-old originally from Afghanistan, was at work that night and had the unfortunate job of having to deny the intoxicated politician his desired withdrawal.

“I had no idea who Benny Ragner was at the time, but the whole thing was like a scene from a bad action movie,” Khademi told Viborg Stifts Folkeblad. “He attacked some of the customers, so together with a friend I tried to hold him off so he would calm down and stop attacking the customers. Then he bit me to try to get himself free.”

The rabid Ragner was later detained by police, along with two young men who had jumped in to the scuffle in his defence.

At his release, Ragner told Ekstra Bladet he had a good reason for his behaviour.

“I haven’t hit anyone,” he told the tabloid. “I was just hammered on alcohol, so I had to spend the night in detention.”

A video from the pizzeria security camera, however, shows footage of a heavily intoxicated Ragner ferociously punching a man in the face, as well as his attack on Khademi. (See TV/MIDT-VEST's report on the incident below)

In light of the video’s release, Ragner’s story changed from having no involvement in a fight to simply being so drunk that he couldn’t remember what happened.

“My client cannot remember anything from that evening. Therefore he has no comment,” his defence lawyer, Niels Fjeldberg, told the media. 

The case was finally settled last Friday, as Ragner, who showed up sporting an luminous tan to rival George Hamilton, was convicted for both assault and grave bodily assault.  He received a 60-day prison sentence.

To add insult to injury, Ragner’s typically anti-immigration party has decided that although they would like immigrants out of the country, snacking on them is just a step too far.

“Immediately after the sentence was announced I spoke with Benny Ragner, and he knew very well that the sentence would have consequences for his future political career within the Danske Folkeparti,” DF’s organisational vice-president Carl Christian Ebbesen told Berlingske, “Therefore we decided that we should part ways, and he now will be excluded from the party.”

See TV/MIDT-VEST's report on the incident, including surveillance camera footage: