SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia man who slapped a female reporter’s rear end on live TV pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery.

Alex Bozarjian in the moment after the incident; Thomas Callaway in his Chatham County booking mug. 

Thomas Callaway, 44, was sentenced to a year on probation and fined $1,000 after entering his plea, according to records filed in Chatham County Recorder’s Court. The judge also ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service.

Callaway was arrested and charged in December after he was caught on camera swatting the rear end of WSAV-TV reporter Alex Bozarjian as she was reporting live on the Savannah Bridge Run on Dec. 7.

In the clip of the event, Bozarjian is giving a report as runners stream by her, some waving to the camera. Then a man leans in behind her as he passes. She is visibly stunned and stops speaking as she stares after the man, before somewhat shakily resuming her report.

Later, she tweeted the video with the caption: “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.”

Callaway was identified through his race bib number. Within hours, the Savannah Sports Council had banned him from all the organization’s races.

Callaway — identified as a husband, father of two daughters, church youth leader and Boy Scout leader — went on television to apologize publicly. He said in one interview that he had been intending to wave at the camera and in another that he was trying to pat Bozarjian on the shoulder.

On the syndicated TV show “Inside Edition,” he said: “There was a misjudge in character and decision-making. I touched her back. I did not know exactly where I touched her.”

After the guilty plea and sentencing, Bozarjian said: “While I understand that this has probably disrupted his life more than he ever imagined, nobody has a right to touch anybody or slap anybody for their own amusement.”

Under Georgia law, sexual battery is punishable by up a year in jail.