Adam Haner, the Portland man at the center of a vicious attack by suspected anarchists over the weekend, spoke out for the first time on Thursday, telling a local Oregon Fox affiliate that he was simply trying to defend a woman being robbed when he was targeted and beaten by suspected anarchists.
“The crowd of attackers taunted him, called him a white supremacist, shoved his girlfriend to the ground and punched her,” Haner told Fox 5 Oregon, per Fox News. “Haner and his girlfriend, Tammie Martin, quickly decided to get in their separate vehicles, which were parked nearby, and leave the area, he said. But soon the power steering failed in his pickup truck, and he stopped at an intersection.”
“He was trying to help and they called him a white supremacist, and then some black lady smacked him and he got in his truck,” Tammie Martin, Haner’s girlfriend, who was also attacked by protesters, told the outlet.
When his pickup truck failed to start, protesters descended on the vehicle, pulled Haner from the cab, and began beating him, knocking Haner unconscious. Martin, who apparently left her vehicle, was also attacked. Both of them were left with visible injuries.
Haner, pictured in a promotional tweet for the interview from Fox 5 Oregon, has two black eyes.
Tammie Martin and Adam Haner were both beaten up in Portland. It was the video that went viral this week. Some media said they were victims of #BlackLivesMatter protesters. They say no they were victims of a violent mob. #fox12Oregon #PortlandProtests pic.twitter.com/wJ4Q1xHrxA
— Marilyn Deutsch (@marilyndeutsch) August 20, 2020
“And before I even got my door open,” Haner said, “someone was yanking me out and I hit the ground. And then I sat there for a while and they wouldn’t let me get up.”
“I got socked and then tried to walk away and then got pushed down, he tried to…and then I got punched a few times, and then I got back up and he was trying to drive away and revving his engine so people would back away from the truck,” he added.
Martin found Haner unconscious and couldn’t initially tell if he was breathing.
“Next thing I knew,” Martin said, “I found him on the ground unconscious, and when I got there, he was on the ground. I didn’t know if he was breathing and I didn’t know what happened.”
While Martin tried to help Haner, the same group who attacked Haner heckled her, calling her a “white supremacist.”
“They kept calling me names calling me a white supremacist b****. You have a boyfriend that’s a white supremacist and saying you’re a loser I hope your boyfriend dies,” Martin told the outlet. “This little group was not a protesting group. They were just looking for a fight. They were trying to fight people driving by. They were just looking to fight somebody.”
“I was just standing for myself as a citizen,” Haner said, “and if you can’t do that on a street, then what can you do?”
The incident was captured on a video that quickly went viral. In the clip, Haner is shown already unconscious, being kicked and punched by a man Portland authorities have identified as 25-year-old Marquise Love, a former security guard. “Medics” associated with the nearby “Black Lives Matter” protest are shown trying to attend to Haner, pouring water on his face and prompting him to wake up.
Haner was taken to a hospital Sunday night and was released earlier this week to recover at home. Police are still seeking information on and the whereabouts of Marquise Love.