Proud Boy "Tiny" Toese Jailed for August 22 Actions
Tusitala "Tiny" Toese, a member of the far-right group Proud Boys, has been arrested on a Multnomah County warrant for his actions during an August 22, 2021 protest in Portland, according to sources familiar with the case. Toese is facing a total of eleven criminal charges.
Toese was one of many members of the Proud Boys and other far-right organizations who showed up in Northeast Portland on Sunday, August 22 with paintball guns and bear mace, looking for a confrontation with antifascist Portlanders. The so-called "Summer of Love" rally marked the one-year anniversary of a similar right-wing demonstration in downtown Portland, which was defined by its lack of police response. The 2021 event, held in an abandoned Kmart parking lot in the Parkrose neighborhood, was no different. Right-wing activists violently clashed with antifascists that afternoon in a haze of smoke bombs and white paint with no police intervention. Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said that officers were monitoring the situation from afar and would make arrests at a later date.
Mayor Ted Wheeler admitted that this hands-off response was inappropriate a month later.
Toese was captured on film during the event shooting a paintball gun at antifascist protesters, attacking an individual in a parked truck, and helping a group of protesters tip over an empty van parked in the lot.
Read more: https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2022/01/18/37941027/proud-boy-tiny-toese-jailed-for-august-22-actions
Tusitala "Tiny" Toese aims a paintball gun at counter protesters on August 22, 2021 in Portland. NATHAN HOWARD / GETTY IMAGES