Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson on Monday demanded the public release of security footage of a stabbing outside Portland’s central library last month that led to the arrest of three people.
Vega Pederson was criticized by some business interests after the incident, who blamed the county for allowing the library to become an unsafe place. She suggested in a statement that what’s been publicly reported doesn’t tell the whole story.
“There seems to be a serious discrepancy between the video I saw, reports from library and security staff, and how this incident was reported by PPB and subsequently some of the media,” she wrote.
Reportedly, the attack occurred on the afternoon of Aug. 25 outside the Multnomah County Library’s central branch in downtown Portland. Police said the man had tried to intervene during a “disturbance,” but was stabbed multiple times and hit with skateboards.
The three people, each between the ages of 18 and 21, ran away but were later arrested near the light rail stop at Holladay Park in Northeast Portland. All three face charges of second-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon. The arrest was filmed by a passerby and sparked some concern on social media.
The investigation around the stabbing is still open and many records related to it are not yet public. But Vega Pederson and other elected leaders have been privy to the security footage.
“The public deserves transparency,” Vega Pederson wrote, calling on District Attorney Nathan Vasquez to release the footage.
Hours after her statement, the DA’s office announced that a grand jury had officially indicted the trio. Two of them face 11 counts that include second-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and menacing. A third faces those same charges plus two additional charges of unlawful use of a weapon and menacing.
In response to the county chair’s ask, Vasquez said that the footage is among the most important pieces of evidence in the criminal case. He declined to release the video, suggesting that doing so would be a sideshow to the legal system.
“It is not the role of the District Attorney’s Office to try criminal cases via press releases, headlines or social media commentary,” Vasquez wrote in a statement Monday. “It is our responsibility to present evidence in a court of law, where justice can be administered fairly and in a manner that protects the rights of the victim and the accused.”
Vasquez added that, because the library, a county department, has access to the footage, county officials like Vega Pederson can release it themselves.
“The library is an invaluable cultural resource to our community. I welcome any collaboration from the library to ensure that the whole community feels welcome and safe in availing itself of its services,” he said.
The stabbing came roughly two months after a fatal shooting near the library, as well. Some seized on the stabbing to criticize county officials for failing to make the library safer.
“Today, we learned that once again, the attackers came from inside with undetected weapons,” Portland Metro Chamber CEO Andrew Hoan wrote in a statement after the incident. “How many more people must be hurt or killed until the county takes decisive action?”
Vega Pederson isn’t alone in calling for the video’s release. Days after the stabbing, Multnomah County Commissioner Shannon Singleton wrote on social media that she watched the footage and said the public statements “do not depict the full story of what occurred.”
“It is critical that we are accurate in the stories we tell and the language we use about Black youth to avoid the ongoing history of racism and fear-mongering,” Singleton wrote.
A spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
Multnomah County's Central Library in downtown Portland, Ore., Feb. 16, 2024.
Joni Auden Land / OPB
Correction: A previous version of this article stated the three people arrested were all men. Two of them are women. OPB regrets the error.
