Proud Boys attack Gresham citizen

Posted Oct. 21, 2021

By Ethan Donahue

Senior Editor

The far-right, ultra-nationalist organization Proud Boys attacked local Gresham citizen Juniper Simoins outside the abandoned Burnside K-mart on Aug. 28.

The Proud Boys, known for their anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-feminism, and neo-fascist ideologies, have caused growing attention and concern from the general public along with growing anger with the Gresham Police Department’s inaction toward the group.

Proud Boys members held a meeting outside the defunct K-mart store at 440 N.W. Burnside Rd on Saturday, Aug. 28. Compared to other Proud Boys meetings, this one was relatively small, with an estimated 30 people present. Outspoken police abolitionist and freelance ecologist Juniper Simonis, along with their service dog Wallace, approached this group at around 4 pm. Simonis was under the impression that the rally had already ended from checking Twitter reports, but after pulling into the parking lot found a large gathering still there. Simonis planned on taking photos to post as a warning to others, while keeping their distance. As Simonis was preparing to leave, they called out from inside their car, “F*** you, fascists, go home.” This then angered the surrounding Proud Boys who began circling their car.

The ensuing attack lasted approximately three minutes. Simonis’ car was surrounded and people physically blocked it from leaving. The “mob,” as Simonis described it, began to shout homophobic slurs and attempted to reach Simonis from inside their car. They were struck in the head with a fist, resulting in a brief loss of consciousness. Then a cinder block broke Simonis' rear hatch window, the block narrowly missing Wallace. After making sure Wallace was okay, Simonis then fled the scene.

"Politicians, hate preachers, 'patriots,' anti-masking anti-vaxxing people, and others are using (Proud Boys) as security at events, and they are roving off-site to target and attack people, including random passersby," stated Simonis to the Washington Blade.

The physical assault resulted in a concussion, sprained jaw, and extensive car damage. Simonis told The Gresham Outlook that they were punched in the head, resulting in them being treated for traumatic brain and jaw injuries, along with having more than $8,000 repairs needed for their car’s hatch window and the dents in their car doors, which were the result of their doors being kicked, hit, and rammed.

Two witnesses called Gresham Police, which is located only a couple blocks away from the incident. One witness’ call went to voicemail but they didn’t leave a message. The other’s call resulted in a police officer calling Simonis about 45 minutes after the attack to take a report. According to the Washington Blade, “Simonis is consistently misgendered. Simonis’ gender is also listed as ‘unknown in the report.”

The attack was labeled as vehicle vandalism in the police report. It was also included that Simonis should avoid “approaching groups of this nature” along with other victim-blaming wordage.

“At no point in this conversation does [the responding officer] treat me as an actual victim of a crime,” Simonis stated to the Washington Blade.

Simonis has also vocally questioned why this attack wasn’t covered by local media, and why the first publication to report on it was the Blade. There’s been backlash from the community when the official police report showed that this attack wasn’t recorded as a bias crime, which is the legal term for a hate crime. A spokesman for Gresham Police, Capt. Claudio Grandjean, admitted that the report misgendered Simonis, but said the officer who wrote the report was given bad info by a dispatcher. Another section was marked "bias crime (no bias)" by someone in the records department.

“They nearly killed me,” stated Simonis to the Washington Blade. “I did not expect this to escalate into violence.”

With continued Proud Boys action in Oregon, Democratic Rep. Ricki Ruiz is calling on elected leaders in Gresham to deploy more police to future “far-right protests, as their intentions are clearly not peaceful.”

In response, Capt. Grandjean said the department is focused on solving gun violence crimes, noting that roughly 40 injury shootings and 11 homicides have occurred so far this year, one fewer than the city's record. Grandjean argued the event would have stayed peaceful if Simonis hadn't driven into the parking lot.

“A way to minimize harm is to not drive (near) a bunch of people and yell expletives at them," Grandjean said. "Juniper told the officer that they wanted to report the vandalism for insurance purposes, which is another way of saying they want to get it documented and no investigation."

Simonis called the law enforcement officials' statements inaccurate and victim-blaming.

"In no way is driving into a parking lot (especially one with open businesses) an escalation," Simonis stated via email to The Gresham Outlook. "Nor an invitation to assault me and vandalize my car while spewing hate-filled speech."