The U.S. Justice Department is opening an investigation into the Portland Police Bureau’s “questionable” practice surrounding weeks of sustained attacks and violent rioting targeting federal buildings and agents in the city.
The news was announced just hours after conservative journalist Nick Sortor was arrested by Portland Police after he was surrounded by a mob of far-left rioters, some of whom damaged his equipment and ultimately assaulted him. Despite the circumstances of the attack, Sortor was taken into custody and charged with disorderly conduct.
Just a day before, on-the-ground reporter Katie Daviscourt — who has consistently documented far-left and Antifa violence in Portland, Seattle and other cities — was assaulted with a metal poll. The incident was captured on camera, though the perpetrator was not arrested despite the fact that an officer was standing just feet away.
The Portland Police Bureau confirmed that one of its “dialogue liaison officers,” sworn officers tasked with “hold[ing] a safe space” for protesters, lost track of the suspect. The DLO followed the woman, who was described as a white female with a large septum nose piercing wearing a black mask and carrying a backpack, trying to talk to her to “hear her side of the story,” according to a news release from the department.
