This is the closest I can get to facts of what went down with the driver who was beaten in downtown Portland, culled from multiple videos and tweets. 1.) A white truck with the license plates removed starts weaving through the crowd, reportedly trying to hit people. #PDXprotests
2.) Some folks surround the vehicle, and the driver gets out willingly. He takes a few blows, and is on his knees, holding his cell phone. 3.) People get more aggressive with the blows, until he takes one to the dome and is knocked out.
4.) A woman on video was a passenger in the truck, and is sobbing hysterically. A man helps lead her away from the vehicle, and tells her that he was trying to hit people, and he got beat up. She doesn’t dispute this summary of events at all, but asks that they not rob his truck.
5.) The man who was talking to her approaches the truck, and tells people to stop rooting through it/trying to rob it. He collects some items in other people hands, and other people help him get the stuff off the ground and return it to the truck, which they then close.
6.) Meanwhile, dude is on the ground. Some street medics start rendering first aid, and ask people to call 911. Then turn him on his side (though it’s unclear why) revealing a significant head injury. Some jokers are laughing in the background, and someone pours water on his head
7.) The medics continue working all the same. He has since been taken to the hospital, and the female passenger left in a different car. The white truck was towed.
If anything in this requires correction, or more information needs to be added, let me know. This is purely for the dissemination of information, in a world of knee-jerk reactionary tweets.
8.) A video being circulated shows the man before he was dragged from the truck. He starts out at the curb, and starts to pull into the road. People get pissed about him being too close, and he burns out of his parking space, looking right at the person recording.
9.) At this point (after burning out of the parking space), the driver of the truck starts reversing to come back at the protestors, and another car tries to block him. He gets around this car. It’s pretty clear in this video he’s trying to hit people.
10.) It also looks like when he first started to take off, that a woman who was kicking the truck got her shoe caught in the tire, and was dragged a bit. The blonde woman was not initially in his passenger seat when he took off, so he must have picked her up later.
11.) This story just keeps getting worse. A right wing journalist caught the moments. A woman with a skateboard gets into it with the group outside of a 7/11. They surround her and take all her possessions. Group of three women, including two that weren’t involved later, hit her.
12.) There is also footage of the same group trying to attack a couple that was just walking by. The man who was beaten is seen checking on the woman to see if she’s okay, and talking to some folks.
13.) A lot of folks are reporting that this is the same group of people that forcibly took over Riot Ribs, and seems intent on taking all of this beyond the thunderdome.
14.) There’s at least one unaccounted for victim who was getting beat up in a crosswalk when all this kicked off. That’s 4 victims. This is captured in the short and long versions of the videos being shared of the woman who was beat up.
15.) The Oregonian is reporting that victim #4 (the guy beaten bloody) was intoxicated. He drank at the bar Church, and was shouting racial slurs and waving a hatchet around. He also drank in his truck downtown. This might have been a factor in crashing his truck.
16.) Victim #4 has been identified as Adam Haner. Though he seems right-leaning and had been drinking all night, there’s no evidence I’ve seen that suggests he earned that ass kicking.
No word as of now on the status of the three other victims.
Lots of coverage of this at this point, but if you’re looking for media sources, look to local media. They are down on the ground, working hard and taking a beating to collect news for us. portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/…
