Statement on the Use of Force by Portland Police on

August 4th

August 9, 2018

1 Introduction
Antifascist protestors were attacked by police offers with 40mm grenade launchers while demon­
strating against the Patriot Prayer/Proud Boys rally held in Portland on August 4th, 2018. One
protestor was struck in the head by a grenade and seriously injured. Police have claimed that
the officers were trained to fire at least 15 degrees over the heads of protestors. We show here
that these safety instructions were intentionally disregarded by police and that fatalities among
protestors were avoided only by sheer luck.
We want to emphasize that any use of force by police against antifascist demonstrators is dan­
gerous and alarming. Had these devices been dispensed "properly" we would still have witnessed
violence deployed in service of the far-right groups that were present that day, and our comrades
would still have been the target of chemical weapons. Our purpose here is to show that even by
the flimsy safety standards set by weapons manufacturers and the police, August 4th featured
unacceptable aggression and violence against protestors.

2 Image Analysis
First, we want to examine some photographic evidence of officers firing at protestors and attempt
to estimate from the picture whether the weapons were being fired "safely." Figure 1 shows an
eyewitness photograph taken during the events of August 4th. Geometric analysis of the image
suggests a launch angle of no more than 4.5 degrees above the horizontal.
Based on debris recovered at the site and analysis of eyewitness images by qualified observers,
the weapon visible in Fig. 1 is a 40mm grenade launcher.

[h]

Figure 1: Eyewitness photograph, showing police aiming grenade launchers horizontally.

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Figure 3: Analysis of one of the shots made into the antifascist demonstration as shown in Doug
Brown’s on-site video.

with Assistant Chief Ryan’s description of the intended behavior of the weapon, and if launched
at this angle it would indeed reach the 20-25 ft overhead he suggests. The suggestion that the
close-range fire on August 4th was a result of using low launch angles is supported by this analysis,
which also agrees quite well with the estimate of a less-than-five-degrees launch angle made by
analyzing the image in Fig. 1.
Our analysis, of course, should be viewed in context of numerous eyewitness reports. Portland
photojournalist Ric Peavyhouse reports being hit with a "less-lethal" round from less than a block
away. Portland city blocks are 200ft on a side, meaning that it is clear that projectiles were not
fired at the recommended inclination. We have also analyzed shots seen in a video uploaded by
local journalist Doug Brown and recreated the location of the shots shown. That analysis shows
that shots were fired at protestors from no more than 100 ft away, which our analysis shows is
impossible using anything like the correct launch angle; see Fig. 3 for an illustration.

4 Effects of High-Velocity Impact

It is clear that the use of 40mm grenades by police on August 4th was inconsistent with safety
protocols and placed protestors at a high risk of being struck by projectiles. Rather than going off
in midair, the weapons were used in a way likely to impact demonstrators. We will now discuss
the likely effects of being struck by a projectile launched at this low angle.
At the end of the trajectory in the low-angle (five degree) case, the projectile is traveling at
more than 58 m/s, with 342 Joules of kinetic energy. To put this number in perspective, this
is comparable to the kinetic energy of a seven-pound brick moving at 30 mph. As that analogy
makes clear, it is quite clear that firing projectiles at low angles directly at eye-level of protestors
is extremely dangerous.
To be more precise than the brick analogy, there is published analysis of the effects of a similar
less-lethal 40mm projectile. This analysis suggests (Figure 2 of linked paper) that an impact at
58 m/s causes well over 150 kPa of intracranial pressure, which rises above the threshold for skull
fracture.
Thankfully the protestor whose injuries are shown in Fig. 4 was protected by the helmet shown
in that image, so the worst-case scenario of death or more permanent injury was avoided. However,
it is clear that he still sustained significant damage. A comrade with medical experience stated
(based on the images in Figure 4) that:

I would say based on the images I’ve seen [...] that the person would have been
killed if they didn’t have that helmet on. They likely suffered a moderate concussion
from the impact and the blast.

This is confirmed by the Daily Beast’s reporting, which includes testimony from the protestor

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Figure 4: Left - a helmet worn by a protestor present at the event who was struck by a policeman’s
grenade. The projectile is still embedded in this image. Right - the injury sustained by that
protestor. Image from Raw Story
.

("Anthony") himself. Anthony suffered a brain hemorrhage and emergency room officials also
believe that the wound would likely have been lethal if not for his helmet.

5 Conclusion
By combining eyewitness accounts, videos, photographs, and calculating the trajectories, we have
demonstrated that the Portland police disregarded safety protocols and intentionally fired 40mm
projectiles into the crowd at an elevation of five degrees or less. At such an angle, it was extremely
likely that citizens would be struck by the projectiles. It’s also clear that that impact would be
at high velocity; study of similar projectiles tells us that skull fractures and other serious head
injuries were quite likely.
This analysis agrees with the fact that the entirely predictable consequences of this type of
firing did in fact occur – protestors were injured as a result of the actions of Portland police, just
as we would have predicted. In the process of suppressing antifascist organizing, police caused
multiple injuries as part of their efforts to support and protect fascist elements.
We strongly condemn these tactics. We call for the demilitarization and disarming of the
police, a thorough investigative process that determines how the decision to fire onto antifascists
was made, and the discipline or prosecution of any officers who misused their weapons in service
to violent far-right groups.

List of Figures
1 Photograph of police aiming grenade launchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Trajectories plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3 Map showing one shot made into the crowd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4 Helmet struck by grenade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5 Images showing police militarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6 Images from Unicorn Riot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7 Images of munitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8 Police aiming and laughing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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6 Appendix: Supporting Images

(a) Police in riot gear at the protest. (b) A counterprotester argues with police.
Photograph: Terray Sylvester for the Guardian Photograph: Bob Strong/Reuters, from the Guardian

(d) Heavily militarized police walk through downtown

(c) Officer aiming at protesters.
Portland.
Source: Willamette Weekly.
Source: Willamette Weekly

(e) Police advance on antifascist protesters. (f) Police marching on protesters.

Source: Willamette Weekly. Source: Willamette Weekly

(h) Multiple rounds were shot by officers into crowds

(g) Officers continued aiming at protesters.
of protesters.
Source: AP.
Source: Huffington Post

Figure 5: Images showing police militarization

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 (a) Police aiming at protesters. (b) Police in riot gear running towards protesters.

(c) Police firing the initial shot at protesters. (d) Police continued to shoot at protesters.

(e) Police were seen wearing less militarized gear and(f) Police remained friendly with Patriot Prayer at-
fraternizing with Patriot Prayer rally attendees. tendees.

Figure 6: Images from Unicorn Riot

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 (b) 40 mm Warning/Signaling Munition.

(a) Spent casing found. Source: Twitter

(c) 40 mm Marking Crushable Foam Round (d) Stinger 40 mm 60-caliber Rubber Balls

(e) Stinger 60-Caliber Rubber Balls

(f) Injuries were sustained by local journalists.

Image source: Mike Bivins

Figure 7: Images of munitions.

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Figure 8: An officer appears to be laughing after flash grenades and pepper balls were shot at
protesters.