A Navy veteran's confrontation with federal law enforcement officers in Portland, Oregon on Saturday went viral. The veteran said he just wanted to ask a question.
Federal law enforcement officers were sent to Portland by President Donald Trump as protests over racial injustices continue in the city. Their presence has been criticized by members of Congress and city officials, according to the Associated Press.
Portland native and Naval Academy alum Christopher David was upset by the presence of federal law enforcement. He had yet to attend any protests in the city, but he decided to go ask the officers some questions.
"I was going to ask why they weren't living up to their oath of office, the Constitution," David told CNN. "All I wanted to do was ask them why?"
“I was enraged simply because I did not think they were taking their oath of office seriously or they were compromising their oath of office,” David told The Independent. “So I actually went down because I wanted to talk to them about it.”
When David approached the officers with his questions he was beaten with batons and tear-gassed. The interaction, caught on video by the Portland Tribune's Zane Sparling, went viral. By Monday morning, it had been viewed close to 10 million times.
David kept his hands at his side as the officers hit him.
"I knew I was never going to react. I was never going to fight back," he told the Portland Tribune. "I'm a little too old to be beaten by a bunch of young guys."
His right hand was broken in two places.
Over the weekend, David's story spread -- he has been dubbed "Captain Portland" and even "Supersoldier" for his unfazed stance against the officers. But David has repeatedly said the story should not be about him, but rather about the protests, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "normal" people standing up for the cause.
“It’s just us normal people out there,” David told the Washington Post. “There were a whole group of pregnant moms standing out there linking arms and they got gassed. You hear people like (President) Trump say it’s just a bunch of wacko fringe people in liberal cities who are out there, but no way. We’re all just normal people who think what’s happening is wrong.”
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