Female MMA Fighter Says She Took Down Anti-Trump Prof Who Scuffled with Veterans Day Flag Wavers
For those of you who’ve followed the Sturm und Drang in Portland, Oregon, over the past few years, there have been constant outbreaks of violence between controversial right-wing activist organizations and antifa-affiliated groups. To make things worse, police have been loath to put enough force on the street in order to put an end to it, leaving many to wonder what the solution is.
I have an idea which, while impractical, could actually put an end to this cycle of madness: Get a bunch of mixed martial artists to keep the peace. If anyone decides to attack someone for their political beliefs, well, bam — end of that story.
Now, you may debate the logistics of this and how many MMA fighters would be needed in order to provide an effective deterrent. I’ll just say this much for my plan: a) It’s likely to be more effective than anything Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has proposed because b) it seemed to work perfectly well on Sunday when a female MMA fighter says she took down an anti-Trump professor who decided to verbally assail a group of flag-wavers at a Veterans Day celebration in the Oregon city on Sunday afternoon.
Unfortunately, one of the flag-wavers was Tara LaRosa, who got in between two women from different factions to try to prevent violence. That didn’t work and a scuffle ensued where the woman purportedly attacked the flag-waving faction. LaRosa pinned her to the ground and a viral video ensued.
So for those of you unfamiliar with the strange conflict in the hipster capital of the Pacific Northwest, here’s a brief explanation. On one side you have an amalgam of conservative individuals and groups, a significant number of whom are harmless and well within the normal scope of political opinions, depending on the occasion.
Unfortunately, the participation of two problematic right-wing groups has made violence a regular occurrence at these events.
The Proud Boys, a curious “western chauvinist” fraternal organization founded by right-winger Gavin McInnes, have been observed to exhibit, on occasion, the kind of hooliganry typically reserved for lager-soaked Manchester United fans. Patriot Prayer, a local conservative group, has also tried to downplay its violent reputation despite the fact that its leader, Joey Gibson, currently faces felony riot charges — so seldom a good sign.
Of course, this kind of crowd naturally brings out antifa-related forces, most of whom will willingly admit they have no aversion to violence. (That is, so long as they don’t have to remove the bandanas from their faces.) This situation has led to a series of skirmishes in the streets of the Rose City — brawls that have been well-documented by independent journalist Andy Ngo, who’s received serious injuries in the process.
Ngo was present at the tail-end of Saturday’s encounter, which ended with the self-described college professor on the ground and begging to be let go.
The Oregonian reported that in a video that was posted to social media, the woman could be seen confronting the Veterans Day-celebrating crowd, hurling anti-Trump statements at them.
A scuffle quickly ensued, and LaRosa — who was among the flag-waving contingent, which she said was there to show its support for America’s veterans — got in the middle of two women who were duking it out. The professional MMA fighter told them to “break it up.” They didn’t.
It may not surprise you to learn that LaRosa got the best of the scuffle. Video from Ngo shows the woman telling LaRosa to let her go; a voice off-camera tells her, “You’re going to jail!”
”I’m a professor,” the woman claims.
“It doesn’t matter, professors go to jail,” the voice said.
The woman said that she couldn’t breathe (for the record, she didn’t seem to have any problems breathing nor did she seem to be in a position where her breathing would be obstructed, but that’s just me). There were other non sequiturs, too. My personal favorite: “I just got done having brunch with my friends.” OK, and?
Another favorite: “You’re antagonizing the city I live in.”
“No, we’re not, we’re doing a flag wave. We’re not trying to fight,” LaRosa said.
At flag-waving rally in Portland, @TaraLaRosa says she had to take anti-Trump protester to the ground after the woman allegedly attacked another woman. The group detained the self-described professor until police came. LaRosa says the woman bit her chest, causing an open wound. pic.twitter.com/LrPJLsMIO6
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) November 11, 2019
Even though LaRosa gave a statement to the police and said she sustained injuries in the fracas, no charges were filed; according to Fox Business, there were conflicting reports as to the genesis of the fight.
.@TaraLaRosa says she was injured when the woman bit through her hoodie, shirt and bra. She has scrapes on her neck and knees as well. pic.twitter.com/k1nJCpDCdi
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) November 11, 2019
It also probably didn’t help that a voice can be heard in the back of the video saying, “How do you like the Proud Boys now?” That’ll never help your cause.
At the moment, however, we don’t have any evidence that LaRosa was with any extremist groups or was there to do anything but commemorate Veterans Day. And, in terms of violence, she was clearly there to stop it, not perpetuate it.
So, all I’m saying is this, Ted Wheeler. None of us like seeing this kind of violence. There are MMA fighters out there who are willing to be of service, I’d imagine. It seemed to work well here. If your law enforcement is either unable or unwilling to do the job they’re tasked with, may I perhaps suggest asking some UFCers if they’re willing to moonlight?
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