Andy Ngo's lawsuit against Rose City Antifa goes to trial (Update)

Reporter Andy Ngo filed a lawsuit against Rose City Antifa back in 2020. The civil lawsuit seeks $900,000 in damages from several individuals. Rose City Antifa was also named in the original lawsuit but they were later dropped by a judge. Three other individuals have also been found “in default.” The judge will decide their liability sometime after the conclusion of the trial. In addition, Ngo reached a settlement with one individual named Patrick Bolen:

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So with those four out of the way, that leaves just two defendants who were subjects of the lawsuit which began yesterday. They are John Colin Hacker and Elizabeth Renee Richter.

The trial began yesterday with instructions from the judge that no videos (only photos) could be taken in the courtroom.

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The rest of that tweet reads “resulted in the journalist being forced to leave Portland and relocate to another country to rebuild a new life abroad in order to feel a sense of safety.” Here’s a bit of the text from the subsequent tweets written by Katie Daviscourt who is covering the trial for the Post Millennial:

Yamamoto explained that while this trial involves violent attacks against Ngo, in which Hacker and Richter were allegedly involved in, that occurred on May 7, 2019 and May 28, 2021, further acts of violence on different dates that have been carried out by affiliated members of Rose City Antifa contribute to the trial in the sense that Hacker and Richter have referenced the brutal physical assaults, either online or to Ngo directly.

On May 7, 2019, defendant John Colin Hacker allegedly assaulted and robbed Ngo at a 24 Hour Fitness gym during a hostile and threatening confrontation.

Yamamoto told the jury that during this time, Ngo was “not popular” and was merely a “ground investigative journalist” that found a niche in covering political protests due to the lack of reporting by mainstream media during times of hyper-political polarization in the US. The attorney explained that the altercation with Hacker at the gym was the first time Ngo had been confronted for his journalism in a personal setting.

She said that this was the moment Ngo “realized he was going to be recognized in public.”

Before the confrontation at the gym, Hacker had allegedly helped organize an event on May 1, 2019, outside of Cider Riot in Portland, in which Ngo was assaulted multiple times by alleged members of Antifa. Ngo had reported on that event, and Hacker allegedly brought up Ngo’s reporting to him during the gym altercation, expressing severe criticism of Ngo’s reporting on that day.

“Nevertheless,” Yamamoto said, “Andy perservered.”

She told the jury that following the May 1, 2019 attacks and May 7, 2019 altercation with Hacker, Ngo was forced to adopt new reporting tactics, which included concealing his identity while reporting in the field, and live streaming events instead of filming and then uploading clips to social media.

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All of that led up to the 2019 attack on Ngo that became national news. He had to be hospitalized after that incident and stopped doing reporting like this for many months. In May 2021 he tried reporting from the street again and had to flee into a hotel to protect himself when he was recognized (2nd tweet below):

The rest of that tweet reads:

On May 28, 2021, Hacker and Richter allegedly participated in events that resulted in Ngo being beaten by a mob of Antifa. On that day, Ngo was observing Antifa attacks on the Portland Justice Center and the central precinct of Portland police when Hacker reportedly approached Ngo and questioned him about his attire. Ngo was reporting undercover in attire that concealed his identity. After Hacker identified Ngo, a mob of Antifa chased him down the street and brutally beat him.

The first person to identify Ngo that night was Hacker, according to Yamamoto.

Next up was Richter’s defense attorney, Brinson Cooper:

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Another defense attorney who claims the defendants are just good progressives trying to make the world a better place:

Then Andy Ngo took the stand:

Some testimony about Ngo’s history:

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The rest of that tweet reads: “During this event, Ngo testified that he was doused with bear mace, and was punched in the head by Benjamin Bolen, a defendant in the complaint. Ngo changed his reporting tactics after this incident, telling the jury, ‘I was scared to be Andy covering this stuff.'” Bolen is the person, mentioned above, with whom Ngo has already reached a settlement. Daviscourt mentioned in a later tweet that Ngo was punched in the stomach, not the head, by Bolen.

The final tweet from yesterday’s coverage reads in part:

In regards to the brutal attack on June 29, 2019, Ngo testified that there was hatred of him online by far-left extremist accounts. He said that he had contemplated wearing a helmet that day but refrained because he didn’t want people to think he was heading into a battle.

On not covering his face that day, Andy testified that “it’s a professional ethical value I have and it is important for people to know who is out there recording them.” Adding, “It’s important that people see the press in a transparent way.”

Ngo confirmed the attacks made in the complaint which included a series of brutal beatings carried out by multiple members of Antifa that consisted of punches and kicks to the head, “concrete-infused” milkshakes thrown in his face, placards thrown at his head, his equipment being stolen, etc.

This incident was captured on video but the defense team objected to it being shown to the jury, arguing that it did not involve the defendants on trial. The judge ruled that the objection could be sustained, and the footage was not shown to the jury.

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It’s unfortunately that our justice system is so bad at dealing with mobs. Hacker and Richter were not personally involved in the violence on June 29, 2019 but they probably know some of the people who were. And they almost certainly know that the purpose of wearing similar dark clothing and masks is to avoid individual consequences for collective actions. Hacker and Richter support the violence of the mob which is why they haven’t volunteered to ID any of the people in it. They are proclaiming their own innocence but are also (probably) protecting the guilty. There’s a reason Antifa acts in this way, because it often works.

Update: Antifa are acting up in the courtroom which doesn’t seem smart.

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