Police in Portland, Oregon are investigating reports that a driver of a pickup truck was allegedly knocked unconscious while being assaulted by protesters.
A number of videos posted on social media appear to show what occurred in the moments before and after the alleged attack at the intersection of Southwest Taylor Street and Broadway on the evening of Sunday, August 16.
In one clip, several people can be seen crowding around a white pikcup truck before one woman is tackled to the ground by another female.
Moments later, other protesters attack the vehicle as it attempts to drive away before it eventually manages to drive off down the street. The vehicle is then said to have crashed as it drove down the road.
During another clip, one man—believed to be the driver—is seen sitting on the ground while surrounded by protesters, including one man who hits him on the head after he states, “I wasn’t trying to hurt nobody.”
After being dragged away from the man on the ground by others, the second man then returns and is seen kicking the victim in the head.
A third clip, which has been viewed more than 4.4 million times on Twitter, shows a male lying unconscious on the ground and bleeding heavily from the head.
The woman who was seen being tackled to the ground in the previous clip is also in the video crying and asking, “Why is he bleeding?”
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BREAKING: After causing a white man to crash his truck in downtown Portland, BLM militants then beat the man and knock him unconscious
911 has been called pic.twitter.com/zLyM4NoVJv
— Drew Hernandez (@livesmattershow) August 17, 2020
In a statement, police said they received a call at 10:27 p.m. saying that protesters had “chased a white Ford 4×4, which has crashed” and that protesters had dragged the driver out of the vehicle.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found an unconscious male. He was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
“Portland Police became aware of video’s circulating through social media, which show various events of what led up to an assault of the victim. The series of events was carried out in different locations involving many different people,” the police statement said.
Police said that victim may have been trying to help a transgender female who had some of her things stolen in the area where the attack against him occurred. Police are asking that person to come forward to help with the investigation.
According to Oregon Live, the victim was reported to have been seen drinking heavily earlier in the evening, prior to driving the vehicle.
In a statement, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt condemned the attack.
“The actions depicted in these videos are universally rejected as wrong—and the actions are illegal,” Schmidt said. “Assaults will not be tolerated in our community.”
