Posted on 09/12/2020 6:39:10 PM PDT by An Appeal to Heaven
A Clackamas County Sheriff’s deputy seen in a viral video making what the sheriff’s office is calling “inappropriate statements,” while on duty has been placed on administrative leave, the agency announced Saturday.
The deputy’s remarks seemed to give credence to the idea that anti-fascists were causing havoc and possibly setting fires, unfounded rumors strenuously debunked by law enforcement.
“As soon as I was made aware of this incident, I moved swiftly to place this deputy on leave while we investigate,” Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said in the release. “The Sheriff’s Office mission is to provide calm and safety especially during unprecedented times such as these. I expect nothing less of our deputies, and apologize to all in our community.”
The video, in which deputy Mark Nikolai is aware he was being filmed, has a timestamp indicating it was filmed on Thursday.
“Antifa motherf-----s are out causing hell,” the deputy says. “There’s a lot of lives at stake and there’s a lot of people’s property at stake because these guys got some vendetta.”
The deputy is heard on the video telling the person filming that deputies “need the public’s help,” in regard to anti-fascists. Numerous reports and photos of people being stopped by armed vigilantes in Clackamas County have been circulating on social media.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Thursday on conspiracy theories circulating about a coordinated arson campaign by anti-fascists. Law enforcement across the state, as well as the FBI, have debunked this myth.
The deputy also tells the person filming he “wouldn’t be surprised" if deputies abandoned the town as fire approached and left only townspeople to ensure safety, saying fire personnel were being pulled from the front lines to regroup for a tactical advantage Thursday evening. The deputy, however, says the firefighters were pulled from the line because they are “waiting for this just to explode.”
The deputy now placed on leave also instructs another deputy to go speak with a member of the public who was “mean mugging,” the deputy.
The agency has declined multiple requests for comment on another viral video, showing what appears to be the same Clackamas County deputy coaching militia members.
The Clackamas County Peace Officers Association, the union that represents law enforcement in Clackamas County, released a statement Saturday afternoon calling the video “sensationalized,” and said he was “speaking freely with a community member about the community’s understandable fear of looting and other criminal acts as our County burns.”
“But let’s not get distracted by a single, sensationalized, five-minute video of one of the hundreds of first responders working around the clock in our County,” the statement said. “We need to fight the actual fires that are burning in our County. Let’s not stoke unnecessary flames.”
The statement also said they have a “surprising number of criminals looking to capitalize, including attempts at looting evacuated homes and properties.” The union did not quantify that number, or explain if it was higher than typical during evacuation scenarios.
The union’s statement made no mention of the second video of Nikolai, in which he appears to coach militia members on their ability to use force. Nor did the statement discuss armed people who have confronted media and community members in Clackamas County.
This story has been updated.
And here’s the video he was put on leave for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=1ZHY4RE_GLA&app=desktop&ab_channel=robertwest
Antifas, maybe, but not anti fascists.
How many acts of arson have there been nationally by Aunt Fascist? NOT A LIE.
Seems awfully early for law enforcement to strenuously be opposed to the possibility that Antifa is involved or at fault. Where have we heard that before...oh yeah EVERY terrorist attack and before anything has happened they know for sure it was not terrorism/Islam related.
He has 20 days left till retirement, so good on him.
I'm always impressed at the speed of local law enforcement and FBI investigations which "debunk" something. The speed of their "debunk" units is something to behold. Too bad the units investigating the coup d'etat against President Trump can't really act with such dispatch.
Will such speedy investigations ever CONFIRM that antifa (or other commie groups) are setting at least some of the fires?
They have their best, crack investigative debunking teams out debunking it. They were ordered to debunk it within 24 hours and they met their goal. They do excellent debunking work.
Exactly. When the Police Chief of Ashland said it’s 100% false, without having the case fully solved, I knew it was 100% suspicious.
L8r
Assuming that there were many, hypothetically, would the Antifa scoundrels want credit or not?
A legitimate question, this. One part of my inclination from observation says yes, and the other isn't so sure.
.
“Coordinated arson campaign” by Antifa debunked.
Well, but that doesn’t mean individually driven arson by individual antifa didn’t happen, uncoordinated. Just coincidental because that’s the mindset.
A police chief is a mayor's yes-man; a political hack. EVERYTHING they say is suspicious.
Why would people think that Antifa would stoop so low as to set fires? /s
most likely he’s right....
Telling the truth = “Inappropriate Statement”
How would they know whether antifa was not setting the fires when they don’t even know who is funding antifa
What is the motive? They don’t know
Who is doing this? They don’t know
Antifa? No, they know it’s NOT them
Yeah whatever.
I think they’re trying to keep a lid on retaliation by Red Oregon.
Has the FBI put an Anarchy statue up in their lobby yet?
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