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The driver lost consciousness in a mob attack in Portland, said he had previously marched in support of Black Lives Matter – and believes he was only targeted for being white.
“I wasn’t trying to do anything other than have a drink,” Adam Haner told KATU of the vicious attack that started outside a 7-Eleven and left him with injuries to the head, three broken ribs and two black eyes.
“I was not the enemy, I’ll tell you. I was just the guy standing there, and I was white, obviously, ”he said of his brutal attack by BLM protesters.
Although not part of the ongoing protests in Portland, Haner told KPTV that he has participated in BLM protests before.
“I was for it. Cops have beaten me before. I was for their cause, ”he said.
The then firefighter – who refuses to watch viral video of his attack – said his natural instincts kicked in when he saw a trans woman he didn’t know get robbed and beaten.
“I just saw something going on there, and I tried to get down to it – and it just directed the fire at me,” he told the station. “All of their chaos came straight to me.”
He insisted he hadn’t said anything offensive – but he and his girlfriend, Tammie Martin, were immediately attacked by the mob, who began calling them white supremacists for no reason.
“All I remember saying very clearly was, ‘This is not your enemy – this is not who we are trying to fight against,’ he insisted.
Martin – who was also attacked in the initial confrontation – said the videos proved Haner was trying to get out safely without harming anyone.
“He was honking his horn and cranking his engine to get people out of his truck – he didn’t want to hurt anyone,” she told the station, saying she was also bruised after being run over and beaten. .
Haner said his power steering belt came off as he walked away – forcing him to crash as he tried to turn.
“Before I even opened my door, someone pulled me out and I hit the ground,” he told KPTV.
“I vaguely remember being in the field and trying to call her,” he said of his girlfriend.
“So I don’t remember anything. And then two days later, I wake up “covered in tubes in the intensive care unit,” he said.
But he insisted he was not “seeking revenge” on the suspect in his attack, named by police as the 25-year-old former security guard Marquise Love.
“I’m sure karma will take care of him the way it needs… I hope he learns something,” he said.
He also insisted that he would step in again to help a stranger in need “once I am fully recovered”.
“This is who I am. If I see something wrong, I’ll be the person to say something, ”he said, adding that his instinct to“ come in and help people ”is what made him become. firefighter.
“Helping people is just my nature,” he told KATU.
The attack – along with the ongoing riots and protests – however, has changed his opinion of the city he loves.
“Having a drink at a 7-Eleven in Portland, Ore. Is a different story than it was two months ago,” he told WKBN.
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