Witness details horrific attack during Portland protest
Police identify suspect responsible for assault; 'Lives Matter' host Drew Hernandez speaks out.
The girlfriend of the man who was attacked in downtown Portland on Sunday night said on Wednesday that people from the group were “looking for a fight” when they assaulted her and her boyfriend, knocking him unconscious.
Tammie Martin told local affiliate FOX 12 Oregon that she and her boyfriend, Adam Haner, were in his truck when he spotted a person who appeared to need help and stopped the car. People from the group then set their sights on Haner and called him “a white supremacist,” she said. The confrontation escalated further until he got back into the truck.
Martin told the TV stations she then got out of the truck. Video shows she was standing on the driver’s side of the vehicle when people began attacking her.
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“I got socked and then tried to walk away and then got pushed down,” she told FOX 12. “I got punched a few times, and then I got back up and he was trying to drive away and revving his engine so people would back away from the truck.”
Video released by a witness earlier Wednesday shows the truck rolling forward as people from the crowd continue to run toward it, kicking the vehicle and screaming at it as Haner speeds away.
WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IMAGES AND EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
A car can be heard repeatedly honking, though it's not clear if it's another vehicle or Haner's. Minutes later, the person recording the video shows the crashed white truck, with Haner outside the vehicle and saying he needs help.
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“Next thing I knew I found him on the ground unconscious, and when I got there, he was on the ground,” Martin continued. “I didn’t know if he was breathing and I didn’t know what happened.”
Video shows that shortly before Martin arrives at the scene, a person, who appears to be recently identified suspect Marquise Love, began punching and kicking Haner repeatedly as others tried to pull him away. The person then runs up behind Haner and kicks him, causing him to lose consciousness.
Martin was also seen on video crying as she asks why Haner is bleeding, to which someone replies: “He wrecked his car and he got beat up because he was trying to run people over when he was saving you, OK?”
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Martin told FOX 12 that people from the group called her names and told her, “You have a boyfriend that’s a white supremacist … you’re a loser I hope your boyfriend dies.”
She said she suffered bruises and a hairline fracture to her ribs. Haner, who Martin said police had to barricade from the group, suffered serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said. He was later released from the hospital and is now recuperating.
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“This little group was not a protesting group," Martin told the station. "They were just looking for a fight. They were trying to fight people driving by. They were just looking to fight somebody."
On Tuesday, investigators identified Love as a suspect and said they have probable cause for his arrest. Officials are still searching for him.
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When asked on Wednesday if police were looking for any additional suspects in the attack, Portland Police Bureau Captain Tina Jones said: “We are investigating any criminal acts in relation to this incident.”
Anyone with information about Love or the attack is asked to call Detective Brent Christensen at 503-823-2087 or email him at Brent.Christensen@portlandoregon.gov.
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