Navy veteran Chris David, 53, told CNN by phone Sunday that he had never been to a protest, but was “enraged” when he saw federal officials on the scene and wanted to ask them what they were doing there.
“I was going to ask why they were not keeping their oath, the Constitution,” David explained. “All I wanted to do was ask why?”
He put on his Naval Academy team with the I hope they hear and feel that he is one of them. What he encountered could not have been further from that.
As he approached them to speak, David said they pushed him down and started hitting him with their batons and using pepper spray.
“I was hoping they wouldn’t shoot me because you had a gun pointed directly at my chest,” said David. “I’m relieved that I was only hit by canes and pepper spray.”
When asked how he was unable to react during the beating, David said he knew that if he acted, the situation would escalate.
“The beating of the stick was not the problem, but when they used pepper spray it was over; I felt like a gallon of burning gasoline was thrown into my head.”
He says he suffered a broken hand in two places, and plans to undergo surgery later this week.
David said he does not want his story to divert attention from the original reason for the protests, which is Black Lives Matter. He wants the public to know that the people who are going to protest “are like him, normal people.”
When CNN contacted him, a spokesman for the Portland Police Office said his officers were not involved in the incident.
Customs and Border Protection also told CNN that their officers were not involved.
CNN has contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the US Marshals for comment, but has yet to receive a response.
CNN’s Alta Spells, Josh Campbell and Chuck Johnston contributed to this report.
.
