Federal agents accused of ‘terrorizing’ Portland
Suit filed after protesters detained in ‘lawless’ way
Federal law enforcement officers used unmarked vehicles to detain protesters in Portland, Oregon, according to news reports and at least one protester who spoke to USA TODAY.
Videos shared online show officers driving up to people, detaining them without explanation, then driving off, Oregon Public Broadcasting first reported. The ACLU filed a lawsuit Friday to try to end what it called “lawlessness” on the streets of Portland.
The lawsuit – the first of several that the ACLU said is to be filed in Portland against the Trump administration – seeks to block the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies from attacking journalists and legal observers at protests.
“Federal agents are terrorizing the community, threatening lives, and relentlessly attacking protesters demonstrating against police brutality,” the ACLU said in a tweet. “This is not law and order. This is lawlessness – and it must be stopped.”
Conner O’Shea, 30, a Portland resident who’s been attending protests for almost two months, said that about 2 a.m. Thursday he and a friend had left protests when they were suddenly pursued by men who they believed to be federal agents.
O’Shea said after being warned by other protesters that federal agents were driving around in unmarked vans “snatching people,” a van pulled over to the sidewalk and “four of five dudes in camo jump out and start charging at us.”
O’Shea and his friend ran in opposite directions. O’Shea did not see identifying markers on the men. O’Shea managed to get away, and was later picked up by another friend and driven home. But his friend Mark Pettibone, 29, said he was arrested and booked by federal agents.
“Nothing so far has been as scary as this,” O’Shea said.
Pettibone told the Washington Post that officers placed him in a holding cell in a federal courthouse, where he was read his Miranda rights. After Pettibone declined to answer questions, he was released, he said.
In a statement, the U.S. Customs and
Border Protection confirmed that it detained a protester but disputed accounts that it did so without reason. The agency, which did not name Pettibone, said agents had information about a person suspected of assaulting federal agents or destroying federal property.
The statement did not address the use of unmarked vans.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and other local leaders said they didn’t ask for help from federal law enforcement and have asked them to leave.
“We’re aware that they’re here,” Wheeler said on Twitter. “We wish they weren’t.”
Protests in Portland have continued since the police killing of George Floyd on May 25.