The madman who tried to run over a Maine Wire reporter with his vehicle Thursday has completed the fooling-around phase, and now he’s finding out.

The vicious incident was caught on tape, and the conservative reporter, Joe Sokol, was able to get his license plate number despite just almost becoming roadkill.

I am now pleased to inform you that police have arrested 38-year-old Ryan Hayward of Bangor, and they’re socking him with four charges:

The attack happened as Sokol was investigating the Bangor Comprehensive Treatment Center and asking where the alleged $25 million it's received in Medicaid since 2018 could have gone. In a press release, The Wire said the facility is quite suspect:

Joe was there to ask questions about a methadone clinic that, according to The Maine Wire’s reporting, has received roughly $25 million in taxpayer funding via Medicaid. This is essentially a taxpayer funded drug dealing operation at the heart of Bangor, Maine. We will continue to investigate this organization, its enablers, and the employees who appeared to be accessories after the fact rather than Good Samaritans.

The Wire's statement was also unexpectedly hilarious, considering what a dangerous situation it was, but the editors were just glad that Sokol was alive and decided to fight hate with humor (See: Insane in Maine: Shocking Video Shows Crazed Man Attempting to Kill Investigative Journalist):

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The release cheerfully points out that Joe is “considerably harder to kill than anticipated,” is equipped by the Good Lord with “the reflexes of a cheetah,” and that “his heart rate never exceeded 75 beats per minute.” Their “medical department has not independently verified this statistic,” they added, but they “stand by it spiritually.”

Meanwhile, if you thought Hayward wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer before, just wait until you hear this: he spilled his guts to the Maine Wire's editor-in-chief, Steve Robinson, whom he thought was a police officer. Oops:

Also: The dumbass that tried to murder Joe called me and gave me a 10 min phone interview that we immediately turned over to the DOJ.

Ryan Hayward is the owner of the vehicle as well as the phone number that called me and admitted to driving the vehicle at Joe. He also admitted that he was extremely familiar with Joe, watched all of his content, and targeted him because of his politics.

You can listen to the recording here. Hayward had more to say, including that he did not try to run over Sokol — even though it’s all on tape:

He claimed he was “polite” while talking to Sokol, saying the reporter was “just looking down on people.” He said Sokol has “got no right” to film outside the clinic.

When asked why he drove off the road, he replied, “Well, that’s a good question. He just kind of fired me up, so, I don’t know. No good reason, really.” He said that Sokol “disrespected me,” adding, “I mean, I’m not gonna try and run someone over.”

Sure. As they say, “tell it to the judge.”

Bonus: Watch Sokol's interview Friday with Salem Media radio host and CNN commentator Scott Jennings: