@andrewkimmel / Twitter
A Vietnam veteran took a nozzle-full of pepper spray right to the face as he confronted federal officers in riot gear who’ve now taken to the streets of Portland.
The incident was captured Saturday night by journalist Andrew Kimmel, and it shows Mike Hastie peacefully confronting the authorities — some of whom are said to be Homeland Security Border Patrol agents recently deployed by the White House.
Mike is telling them about his service in ‘Nam, where he says he was a medic … and where Americans committed atrocities against the Vietnamese people, something he says the agents and their generation know nothing about. He was keeping his distance and being peaceful — simply voicing his opinion to the squad in front of him. Not being threatening at all.
And yet, that didn’t stop one of the agents from pepper spraying him right in his face, point-blank and walking off like nothing happened. It went down almost like a hit of sorts.
Mike retreated — clearly injured by the spray, which was all over his face and eyes — but he kept up his rant, continuing to get his message across as the officers shipped out. We gotta say for someone who just got a dose of that in their eyeballs, the dude stood tough.
This is just a small example of the chaos that has overtaken the streets of Portland over the past week or so — where cops and feds alike are deploying tear gas and pepper spray to break up the civil unrest that’s been unfolding. In most cases, like this, the method is completely unnecessary and a blatant use of excessive force … which can be heinous.
The problem … because of how wild it is right now, there’s little to no accountability. And, a lot of these officers are wearing gas masks, fatigues and riot gear, so it’s hard to identify them.