According to Mayor Ted Wheeler, Portland Mayor sprayed a man who added him with pepper spray after eating at a local bar on Sunday night.
Wheeler was with former Portland Mayor Sam Adams when a man confronted them outside McMenamins Hillsdale Brewery & Public House, according to a police report obtained by The Oregonian.
The man allegedly complained that Wheeler and Adams were not wearing face masks during the meal.
The two were inside the restaurant’s tent and Wheeler explained to the man that masks were not needed to eat, reports KOIN.
The man, who was maskless, picked up his cellphone and followed Wheeler to his car.
“I was immediately concerned about my personal safety,” Wheeler later told authorities, as set out in the police report.
Wheeler told the man to retreat, but he refused.
‘I told him I was carrying pepper spray and that I would use it if he did not withdraw. “He stayed a short distance away, I pulled out my pepper spray and sprayed him in the eyes,” the mayor said in the report.
In a statement to The Oregonian, Wheeler’s spokesman Tim Becker acknowledged the incident.
“The mayor is cooperating with the police investigation and encouraging other stakeholders to do the same,” Becker said.
Sunday night was the second time this month that Wheeler was confronted during the meal.
He was punched in the face when he ate at Café Nell on 6 January.