The hammer finally came down on Proud Boys member Tusitala Toese, who was sentenced Friday to almost eight years in prison for his part in an August 2021 Portland, Oregon rally that ended in violence.
Back in March, a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge found Toese guilty of two counts each of second-degree assault, third-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, and first-degree criminal mischief and riot.
Toese, whose nickname is “Tiny” for what we generously assume are ironic reasons, led the Proud Boys event in east Portland on August 22, 2021. About 200 Proud Boys showed up at the carpark of an abandoned Kmart for what was perversely billed as a “summer of love” event.
When a much-smaller group of 30 or so “antifascists” (ANTIFA!!!) wandered past the klanbake, the Proud Boys mob pursued them. A neighboring gas station and a convenience store were soon caught in a crossfire of pepper spray, projectiles and paint balls, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.
Participants were beaten, shot, or overcome by Mace. This was not in any way like the actual “summer of love.” No one even wore flowers in their hair.
Traffic was brought to a halt on the busy NE 122nd Ave, and the battle spread across the street and onto the grounds of a high school, where the Proud Boys assaulted a man inside a pickup, smashing the windows and slashing tires. Another vehicle was turned on its side at the car park and spraypainted with the letters “FAFO” — an acronym for the tedious Proud Boys catch phrase, “fuck around and find out.”
Proud Boys in a red pickup truck fired airsoft guns at the dwindling number of “antifascists” at the carpark and one of them aimed his weapon at a group of reporters. The police mostly kept their distance during all this and advised everyone else to do the same.
When the “antifascists” fled, the Proud Boys erupted into chants of “Whose streets? Our streets!”
This was the sort of right-wing inspired violence that doesn’t make it in Republican campaign videos or pro-lynching country music videos.
The Multnomah County district attorney’s office said Toese ordered his group of thugs to chase after the counter protesters and incited them to shoot paintballs at the counter protesters and assault them. He’d personally broken the windows of counter protester Mark Nunziata’s car with a baseball bat. The man’s “offense” was carrying water that Toese said “belonged to antifa.” A Proud Boy later beat the man while he hid in his car.
“Toese was filled with hatred toward antifa and played upon the passions of the Proud Boys to incite them to violence,” the prosecutor stated in a news release. However, prosecutors were unable to prove that Toese directly hurt anyone physically.
Nunziata testified that he thought he would die that day and still experiences post-traumatic stress from the assault.
“I will not be free of the consequences of his actions for many years to come, and nor should he be,” Nunziata said before cursing at Toese.
“You lose,” he added.
During a 2020 “Patriot” rally, Toese had raved like a less-stable Travis Bickle about the Portland’s supposed “anarchy” and how “we’re not going to see this city burn. We’re gonna take a stand.”
So Toese was both an inciter and the incited. Donald Trump and his Department of Homeland Security had promoted an “anti-fascist conspiracy” in 2020 to their political benefit. Fox News told its viewers that Portland was literally on fire.
A man was shot and killed during a pro-Trump caravan in Portland, and Republicans seized on this as further evidence that Portland had devolved into an “anarchist state.”
Toese admitted during his sentencing Friday that people were “put in harm’s way due to my reckless and careless actions.” These are unfortunately words we’ll never hear from former insurrectionist in chief Donald Trump.
[Columbian / The Guardian / Oregonian]
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How odd that even with the cops' forbearance, Proud Boys still get arrested for rioting and destruction of property, while BLM, as demonized as they are, doesn't have violent felons associated with it. It's almost like everything Republicans say about these groups is completely backwards.
"people were put in harm's way?" Motherfucker, you and your goons actively pursued and BEAT THE SHIT out of people who were HIDING from you.
Fuck off forever and enjoy prison, asshole.