Police believe a lawyer for the local law firm Brownstein Rask LLP and heir to Alpenrose Dairy is the man who was peppered with pepper by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on Sunday night, according to an updated police report.
The report identified Cary R. Cadonau, a lawyer, as the person who was sprayed with pepper by the mayor. McMenamins Hillsdale Brewery & Public House general manager Scott Mitchell told police that Cadonau went to the restaurant on Monday and asked for a surveillance video of the incident, as well as a copy of the mayor’s fine. The McMenamins team said Cadonau was a regular customer.
Contacted by phone on Tuesday, Cadonau neither confirmed nor denied that he was involved in the confrontation. Warned that he would probably receive many of these calls from the local press, he simply said, “Oh, brother.”
According to a biography published online, Cadonau specializes in real estate matters, business litigation, family law, personal injury and criminal defense.
According to the report, Officer Matt Miller called Cadonau, who told him he was a lawyer and believed the mayor should be held “responsible”. He said he recorded the entire incident.
“I informed him that I was aware that he had tried to acquire Mayor Wheeler’s video surveillance and food and drink receipt at the pub and asked why,” said Miller’s account. “Sir. Cadonau said he wanted the receipt because it would show the amount of alcohol the mayor consumed that night.”
Cadonau declined to go into details about the incident or share his video footage, according to the report.
Cary Cadonau told OPB that he hired communications professional Mara Woloshin to assist with press inquiries. Woloshin, who said she was a public relations professional specializing in the defense of Medicare and Medicaid, said she was called in by Cadonau shortly after the police report was released Tuesday afternoon.
She said she scheduled an interview with her new client on Wednesday morning and hopes to make the video of the incident available soon after.
“He is dealing with a violent attack for which he was not prepared,” said Woloshin. “… What I learned from my conversation with Cary is that he wants to reveal everything that happened in that exchange.”
Throughout Monday, as news of Wheeler spraying pepper at an individual in a confrontation over COVID regulations made national headlines, it was unclear who the man was.
According to the police report, the mayor was leaving McMenamins Hillsdale Brewery & Public House in southwest Portland with ex-mayor Sam Adams at around 8 pm on Sunday, when a person confronted him and accused him of sitting at a restaurant without wearing a mask, according to the report. Wheeler and Adams were dining in an open-air stall at the restaurant just before the meeting.
The man, whom the mayor described in the report as middle-aged and white, followed Wheeler to his car while recording the interaction. The mayor said he warned the man who was carrying pepper spray and told him to “back off”, but the man refused. While the mayor tried to get in the car, the mayor sprayed pepper in the stranger’s eyes.
“He didn’t wear a mask and was about a foot from my face while he was filming me,” the mayor told the sergeant. Peter Simpson, according to the report. “I was imminently concerned about my personal safety, as I had recently been physically approached in a similar situation. In addition, I was worried about hiring COVID, because he was right in my face and didn’t wear a mask. “
Contacted by phone, Mitchell, the general manager, said the restaurant offered no further comment.