Portland Mayor tells police he sprayed pepper on a man who harassed him because of mask policies

Portland Mayor tells police he sprayed pepper on a man who harassed him because of mask policies

by

“He was not wearing a mask and he approached an inch or two of my face while filming me,” Wheeler said in a voluntary statement to the Portland Police Department.

Police do not know the identity of the man who was sprayed and have so far received no complaints, they said. When asked about the alleged incident during a press conference on Monday, Wheeler said: “I can say that there was an incident, I filed a report with the police and that is all I can say now.”

The mayor’s office told CNN late on Monday that Wheeler has no further comment.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise restaurant goers to sit outdoors, at least 2 meters away from other groups, and to wear masks whenever customers are not eating or drinking, according to updated guidance on January 6.
Daily activities are more dangerous now that new variants of the Covid-19 are in circulation, says the expert

In the police statement, Wheeler said he was approached on Sunday outside Hillsdale McMenamin pub by a man he did not recognize. The man said he was photographing the mayor while he was in the restaurant tent and accused the mayor of being in the restaurant without a mask against Covid-19 policies, Wheeler said in the statement.

The man appeared to be recording with a cell phone, Wheeler said, adding that he told the man that people are allowed to temporarily remove a mask to eat and drink at a restaurant, the statement said.

Wheeler said the man followed him to the car.

“I was imminently concerned about my personal safety, as I was recently physically approached in a similar situation,” said Wheeler. The mayor says he first gave a verbal warning that he was prepared to use pepper spray and then sprayed the man in the eye.

Wheeler was confronted earlier this month in a restaurant by a group of people shouting obscenities, and “a member of the group started hitting the mayor and made physical contact with him”.

The police report said Wheeler was with former Portland Mayor Sam Adams at the time, who confirmed the incident to a police officer. Adams did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Adams tried to videotape the encounter, but was only able to capture the audio, which is consistent with the story of Wheeler and Adam, the police report said.

Wheeler and Adams say that Wheeler threw a bottle of water at the man so he could wash his eyes, but did not remain in the place. Shortly afterwards, a mayor official called the police to start the report.

.Source