Charges have been dismissed against a man in Portland who drove through black lives matter protesters this past October. The driver, Mark Alan Dickerson, had been charged with “reckless driving” and “harassment” after he slowly drove toward a small group of people who were protesting a grand jury’s return of no true bill against police officers who shot Patrick Kimmons, who was seen by officers opening fire in a parking lot, then running toward officers with the gun in his hand. Multnomah County Judge Kenneth Walker dismissed the misdemeanor charges against Dickerson, because the alleged victim, Arthuray Dudley, couldn’t appear in court to testify.
The case against a driver who struck a protester with his car last October was dismissed by a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge Monday morning because the victim could not stay in court all day.
A spokesman for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office says the struck protester, Arthuray Dudley, met with a prosecutor on the morning the trial was set to begin and said he could not stay in court all day “because he had conflicting child care issues.”
The District Attorney’s office offered to contact CourtCare, a program that cares for children under 11 years old, to help provide child care. But Dudley told the court he couldn’t stay.
“We believed that based on the video evidence, and with the victim’s testimony, the state could have proven the charges against Mr. Dickerson,” MCDA spokesman Brent Weisberg said in a statement shared with WW. “But with regard to the harassment charge, given the facts of this particular case, the court granted a defense motion to dismiss the charges after the victim, Mr. Arthuray Dudley, informed the court that he would be unavailable to testify.”
Weisberg says Dudley’s testimony was critical for the state’s case.
Judge Kenneth R. Walker dismissed the case rather than delaying the trial.
Video of the incident, with commentary, was posted to YouTube. You can see Dickerson driving toward the line of people, and they move out of the way and start accosting him. Dudley then backs into the roadway, intentionally putting himself in front of the truck, only to be hit. Dudley continues to stay in the road, and it looks as if he throws himself into the truck. It also appears as though Dudley is grinning during this. You can see and hear some of the protesters hitting his truck with their protest signs, which apparently isn’t a crime, according to the Multnomah County district attorney, Rod Underhill.
A Go Fund Me account had been set up to pay for Dickerson’s legal bills.
Portland “police” did their best to cover for the mob’s behavior in their initial report from the incident:
Officers learned the demonstrators were family and friends of Patrick Kimmons. The officers contacted the demonstrators and requested they move off the roadway and onto the sidewalk; however, the group remained on the roadway, blocking vehicle traffic. As officers developed a plan to divert traffic, officers continued to request the protestors move to the sidewalk. While officers continued to communicate with the crowd and direct them to the sidewalk, the driver of a dark blue Chevrolet 2500 pick-up traveled north on Southwest 4th Avenue into the crowd of people and struck a protester. The protester did not require medical treatment.
Officers located and stopped the Chevrolet truck and driver near the intersection of Southwest 3rd Avenue and Southwest Madison Street. The driver was taken into custody without incident.
The driver has been identified as 55-year-old Mark A. Dickerson. Dickerson was lodged at the Multnomah County Jail on charges of Assault in the Fourth Degree, Reckless Endangering, and Reckless Driving.
The Police Bureau recognizes that crowd control events that impact traffic are complex incidents that are extremely dangerous. During today’s event, officers recognized that demonstrators were distraught about the loss of a loved one and the officers attempted to provide direction to the protesters without enflaming the situation.
The initial mission today was to ensure the safety of those people demonstrating and other community members traveling on the roadways. Police established detours as additional resources were called to the scene to assist with directing the protesters off the street and onto the sidewalk.
Interesting that it was Judge Kenneth Walker who dismissed this case. Judge Walker is black. Will the mob come for him now because he dismissed charges against whitey?
Walker is no stranger to controversy. You may recall that he’s the judge who called for all guns to be thrown into the ocean. He also faced criticism from the community after he walked out of the courtroom during a sex abuse victim’s statement. The state Supreme Court ruled that Walker had violated her victims’ rights.
NOTE: This is not the same driver from the incident in Vancouver, WA, where a dude’s truck adorned with American flags was getting vandalized by several antifa agitators and he had to hit the gas escape.
