Two counter protesters who dumped a bucket of slimy glitter-lubrication on police officers last summer were both sentenced to five days in jail and 32 hours of community service.
The incident happened during one of the many dueling protests in Portland, featuring the pro Trump Patriot Prayer group and the masked troublemakers from Antifa showing up to counter protest. The two criminals say they intended to fill water guns with the mixture and spray Patriot Prayer members with the substance. The lube is designed to be used for horse breeding (you seriously couldn’t make this stuff up).
Two protesters who splattered two police officers with buckets full of lubricant and glitter during a Patriot Prayer rally in downtown Portland last summer were sentenced Friday to five days in jail.
Robert “Jonah” Majure, 28, and Tristan Romine-Mann, 29, had attended the rally to demonstrate against what they believe are the right-wing group’s racist, chauvinist and violent views. They showed up with four 5-gallon buckets of lubricant used to artificially inseminate horses, gold glitter mixed in, super-soaker-type water guns and a plan to spray Patriot Prayer members.
Police testified that the men purposely threw the slime on them, then tried to fist bump each other in celebration after they were handcuffed and taken into custody.
Horse lube that served as part of the glittery substance
After a three-day trial in Multnomah County Circuit Court, a six-person jury on Wednesday found both men guilty of misdemeanor harassment for offending and annoying the officers with the sticky goo.
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Kenneth Walker sentenced them to the jail time, plus 32 hours of community service and one year of probation.
Majure and Romine-Mann asked why police instead would use their authority to arrest them for what the two men characterized as a “silly and disarming” response to Patriot Prayer.
During the trial, Romine-Mann acknowledged that he brought the mixture to the rally to taunt Patriot Prayer backers. “It was like mocking them, mocking the machismo,” he said. “It has a consistency that’ve very slimy and humiliating to get all over you.”
As for the glitter, Romine-Mann said he and Majure stirred it in as a sort of “glitter bomb (for) people who take themselves too seriously.”
The bucket that was used to mix the lube and glitter
Romine-Mann said police exaggerated the trajectory of the bucket’s slime. When asked if he intended to throw the mixture at officers, he responded that he was just following orders to empty the bucket.
Majure said he didn’t toss the slime at the officers. Rather, he said, it went everywhere when a sergeant ordered his arrest and a Patriot Prayer member suddenly grabbed him and flung him around.
Detective Todd Christensen testified that after arresting the two men, four officers had to leave the rally to clean up because they were hit with the slime and glitter.
Christensen, who got the worst of it, said he had to throw away his uniform and a vest because the glitter was impossible to remove. Reminders of that day remain in his service weapon, he said.
“In the ultimate act of disrespect that I have ever been a part of, surrounded by hundreds of people, they decided to … throw that then-unknown liquid all over me and my coworkers,” Christensen said.
“That moment of sheer terror — not knowing what kind of chemical or substance it could have been, if it was harmful or harmless — did not matter to them,” he said. “They reveled in glee at what they had done in trying to humiliate us.”
Two counter protesters who dumped a bucket of slimy glitter-lubrication on police officers last summer were both sentenced to five days in jail and 32 hours of community service.
