The mayor of Portland, Oregon, sprayed pepper spray on a man outside a restaurant on Sunday night after the mayor said the man confronted him about mask rules and other issues and then approached uncomfortably, according to a police report.
Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, told police about the man: “I clearly informed him that he needed to back down,” before spraying him in the eye, according to an incident report released by police.
Wheeler told police he was leaving a pub around 8 pm when the man, filming him with a phone, accused the mayor of not wearing a mask while sitting in a restaurant, as required by Covid-19 rules, and also for other issues.
Wheeler said he told the man he was sitting in a tent area and that coronavirus rules allow someone to remove their mask when eating or drinking, according to the police report.
The man, who was not wearing a mask, followed Wheeler to his car and “got a foot or two from my face while he was filming me,” Wheeler said in the report.
“I was imminently concerned about my personal safety, as I was recently physically approached in a similar situation,” said the mayor according to the report. Wheeler also said he was afraid to capture Covid-19.
A spokesman for the mayor said Wheeler is fully cooperating with the police. He was with former Portland Mayor Sam Adams at the time, who is listed in the report as a witness.
“Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler presented a police report on an incident that occurred. The mayor is cooperating with the police investigation and encourages others involved to do the same,” said Wheeler’s communications director Jim Middaugh, in a statement.
The man who received pepper spray was not identified, according to the police report, and Wheeler said he did not recognize him. The man was described as a middle-aged white man.
Portland has been agitated by protests over the past year, and some have called for Wheeler’s resignation for his way of dealing with demonstrations that sometimes involved violent clashes.
Wheeler was re-elected in November. He defeated challenger Sarah Iannarone 46.07% to 40.76%, according to electoral records. There were also candidates registered.
Earlier this month, the mayor said he was going out to dinner with a friend when a group shouted obscenities at him, and then the group entered the tent area and someone started “beating him,” said NBC affiliate KGW .
The man Wheeler spayed pepper on Sunday looked surprised, the mayor told police according to the incident report.
“He made a comment like, ‘I can’t believe you just sprayed me with pepper spray,'” Wheeler told police.
Wheeler said he threw a bottle of water at the man when he was leaving so he could wash his eyes, and then he went out and contacted his chief of staff. A city official contacted the police and Wheeler called the police and gave statements by phone and e-mail, according to the report.
