On Sunday night, I put out the call for information regarding a man who was hogtied and carried out of the Rose Garden by a half-dozen security members, writing...
A scuffle in the stands resulted in a man being hogtied with plastic handcuffs and carried from the bowl by security after he resisted efforts to resolve the situation more peacefully, according to multiple eyewitnesses. Cellphone video sent to Blazersedge showed the man being lifted off the ground and carried horizontally into a
service elevator[turns out it was a break room] by six security members with multiple staffers and at least one uniformed police officer flanking him.
A Blazers spokesperson has clarified one aspect of an eyewitness account posted below, stating that the man was not tasered. He also noted that it would be more accurate to say that the man was "handcuffed" rather than "hogtied" because the man's feet were restrained but not bound and linked to his handcuffed hands during the forcible removal.
In the comments, DonttrashCrash gave his account of the full scene.
I was very close to the situation. I am not kidding when I say he was a. mentally unstable or b. possessed by something. If it were alcohol the chanting that he was doing would have had a slurr to it, and the guy wouldn't send fools flying over seats with a arm swipe, I would assume that if drunk he would have had bad balance.
It was very odd from the time I first noticed him walking up from the 100 level, a poor usher tried to stop him and all he got was a solid whap from a book to the top of his head, the usher looked dazed like he didn't know wtf just happened. he continued up to the top of the 200 level (all the while chanting something and rocking back and forth) He then went into a row below the suits.
HE was met with some bigger bodies trying to contain him and this is where the possessed theory comes into play. Every person that tried to come close to him couldn't do a thing as he would swing his arm and send people backwards. After a couple of people fell over seats in came the tazer. It took the taze and about 9 guys to carry him out of the row. While getting "hog tied" he sent another unlucky person sailing down the stair about 5-6 rows.
Keep in mind all the while he was chanting... This was crazy for the main reason that it took a lot of people out of there comfort zones of "the norm" As odd as it all was I found it refreshing in the sense that it shook me out of my normal rat race thoughts. I guess what I mean is that you can always expect the expected but life is just more exiting when there is a wild card thrown in there.
So to wrap it up sucks to be anyone who got in chanters way, cheers to everybody that helped, in an odd way thanks to the chanter, and I really hope this guy gets the helps he needs.
Elliot emailed in a similar account.
The incident was quite entertaining the man chanting originally was stopped by the usher to which he took a book he was tooting smacked the usher on the head and proceeded to walk to the top of the aisle chanting to me what sounded like "we want chalupas" but that could not have been the case given the blazers already surpassing the 100 point mark.
Austin emails in...
I talked to an elderly couple on the MAX ride home, and that was one of the first things they told me about the game. They said they were about a row or 2 back and it was extremely frightening. The woman said the man definitely had some kind of Schizophrenia disorder and was having an episode. She said the situation got so out of hand because he was about 6'4'' and 250 lbs. She seemed extremely scared even when talking about it, kudos to the Rose Garden staff for taking care of it so well and that no one was hurt.
UPDATE: A Rose Garden Usher emails in these details...
From what my co-workers and one of the supervisors mentioned last night, the gentleman that was detained last night wasn't a ticketed guest. He got in through the south gates (can't say if he was asked for a ticket or why he wasn't stopped sooner because details weren't stated). Once he entered A-23, [Usher's name withheld] who was working there asked for his ticket and that is when the gentleman bopped [the usher] on the head like he was a mouse in Bunny FooFoo's meadow. Once security got there, he used the book bopping technique again on a guard, and then the skirmish happened.
As I was gathering my stuff last night at the lockers by the Courtside Club, I saw the paramedics wheeling the guy out toward the loading dock as the guy was saying something that I couldn't make out, it was pretty incoherent.
UPDATE: KPTV Fox 12 reports the following details...
Portland police said the man walked through one of the Rose Garden entrances around 8:15 p.m. When asked if he had a ticket, he pushed by the Rose Garden ushers and made his way to the 200-level and club level seating area. He began yelling and screaming at no one in particular, said a police bureau spokesman.
Rose Garden security confronted the man and asked him to leave, but he became physical with them and had to be restrained. Portland police officers soon arrived and detained the man.
...
The man was taken to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Police cited him on charges of harassment, disorderly conduct and trespassing, but he was not taken to jail.
I know you guys have video and further details that you're dying to share with the world. Also, what was he chanting? Did he really set off a riot over Chalupas? Was this the angriest/most disturbed Luke Babbitt fan ever?
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter