Jim Ryan
The Oregonian
PORTLAND — A man drove his car into a crowd of protesters overnight in downtown Portland, injuring three, before fleeing the scene, police say.
The driver, identified by police as 27-year-old Anthony Eaglehorse-Lassandro, drove away “at a high rate of speed” but was tracked and eventually arrested on suspicion of hit and run, reckless driving and possession of a controlled substance, Portland police said. He remains in the Multnomah County Detention Center.
The incident occurred early Wednesday as protesters marched in downtown Portland as part of the city’s 20th consecutive day of protests. Thousands of demonstrators have gathered and marched through city streets each day, calling for sweeping reforms to protect people of color from police brutality.
Video footage from the scene in the area of Southwest Third Avenue and Alder Street shows the driver turning toward a group of demonstrators in the street. The driver pauses, then accelerates into the group, sending at least one person to the ground.
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The driver flees, and a group of demonstrators gives chase on foot. The driver later appears on the video a second time. He hits a vehicle then gets out of his car. A demonstrator runs toward him, and he drives away, tires squealing.
Two people were taken by ambulance to hospitals, police said. Another was taken for treatment in a personal car. None of them suffered injuries that threatened their lives.
Eaglehorse-Lassandro was the only person arrested in connection with Portland’s latest protests, which began Tuesday and extended into Wednesday morning. Demonstrators also marched onto southbound Interstate 405 and remained on the Fremont Bridge for about two hours Tuesday near downtown Portland.
The protests are part of a massive uprising of demonstrations that has swept the country after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.