Portland Cops Target and Unlawfully Arrest CopBlocker James Peach
Video is of the arrest and post-release interview of Cop Blocker James Peach.
On September 9th, 2016 approximately a hundred protesters assembled across the street from Portland Oregon’s ‘Justice Center’. The meeting place before a march through the streets. The protest was in solidarity with the prison strikes happening right now around the country.
As protesters began to gather, a group of people approached the park with three large banners painted on plywood. Before they were able to enter the park however, they were confronted by two cops on bikes. The cops told them they were ‘confiscating’ the signs for safety reasons. Naturally the theft was met with resistance, but ultimately the signs were seized as over ten other cops arrived and strong armed the otherwise peaceful sign holders.
After the signs were taken they were leaned on a light pole as the cops told the protesters off. At this point I, James Peach, along with other observers were standing next to the signs. That apparently was unacceptable because a bike cop came around and started hitting me with his bike from the street side. I ignored the attempt to move me and turned away from the bike cop. Another officer then told everyone to “move or you will be arrested”, at which I attempted to reply “Please explain to me what grounds you have to arrest us”. Before I could even finish that sentence I was grabbed and pulled from behind by a sergeant who gave no warning or notification that he was even there. Naturally I fell into the sergeant, who then said “oh you shouldn’t have done that”. The sergeant and the bike cop then begin to pull me into traffic as cars drove by. We ended up across the street where I repeatedly said I would not calm down when they are trying to kidnap me. I ended up detained for a little while and then arrested. The charges of the arrest were: harassment, interfering with a peace officer, and criminal mischief 2. The charges were of course not filed because they were complete bullshit.
In the featured video at 11:15 you can see the sergeant that initiated the assault approach the cops that have me detained. He asks if I had been searched. He says he knows I have a conceal carry permit and wonders if I am armed.
Now what’s interesting about that, is I have not given anyone my name or any information about me. Which means he knew who I was before he assaulted me. And he not just knew who I was, but had done some research about me. Knowing that I have a concealed carry permit takes a bit of digging considering I don’t use my legal name on anything. This then leads me to wonder when and why a sergeant of the Portland police had looked into me, someone who has never been arrested before.
It doesn’t take much wondering to figure out that the Portland police have a few reasons not to like me. I’ve publicly called out the East Precinct, torn down their gang colors, and I film them on the job all the time. As I said though, I’ve never even been arrested, nor have I ever threatened a cop. So why would members of the Portland Police Bureau be looking into my personal information so closely that they found my conceal carry permit? It also begs the question of what else they have looked up and what they plan on doing with that information. Obviously, they are not above arresting me on baseless charges. What would have happened to me had there not been so many cameras present? It makes me a bit concerned they will try again and trump up charges when there aren’t so many witnesses.
These concerns are far from baseless, earlier this summer a fellow Portland cop watcher was arrested and the charges brought against him are insane. Eric Crowl was arrested while driving home, he had a rifle and shotgun, locked up in the back of his SUV as well as a pistol locked in his center console. From those weapons they charged Crowl with multiple felons including ‘attempted assault on a peace officer’. The police also detained his wife in her car the day after his arrest, for nine hours on the side of the road while they got a warrant for their house. I’ve since talked to Crowl, but am not legally allowed to share the info he gave me while his trial is still going. It was this incident that prompted me and other Portland copblockers to look more closely at the East Precinct.
Since my recent article involving Portland’s East Precinct, the officers of that precinct have begun saying things like “why are you following me;” “stop following me;” “I don’t feel safe when you are watching me.” We are sure they are attempting to build a case of harassment or stalking on us. This is laughable though, the Oregon Constitution has been revised to specifically protect filming the police. But it’s funny listening to armed thugs cry about people with cameras.
Though the Portland police try their hardest to intimidate the citizens they encounter, they only prove the point that filming the police is very important. Cops lie, cops steal, cops plant evidence, and cops kill people if they can get away with it. Don’t let the cowards in blue keep you from keeping them accountable.
