Patriot Prayer's Tusitala 'Tiny' Toese Arrested At Rally Dec. 9

PORTLAND, OR — A Patriot Prayer rally in downtown Portland Saturday saw one person arrested for assaulting a counter-protester, according to the Portland Police Bureau.

Tusitala John Toese, 21, was taken to the Multnomah County Jail for assault, harassment, and disorderly conduct. He was released the same day.

Toese was also held for a previous misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge from a Patriot Prayer rally in Portland Aug. 22.

Toese, ironically referred to as "Tiny," typically follows Patriot Prayer founder and conservative political activist Joey Gibson, with Toese's 6-foot-6, 295-pound frame often shadowing the controversial leader at most his organized events.

The event held at Chapman Square Dec. 9 was reportedly to protest the result of Kate Steinle's murder case in San Francisco, which ended Nov. 30 with the acquittal of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate — an undocumented Mexican national who'd been deported from the U.S. five times prior to what jurors ultimately decided was an accidental shooting July 1, 2015.

In a 40-second video posted to Facebook by user Frankie Paldino and later shared by Toese, the man Toese allegedlyappears to punch seems to raise his hand for a high five before Toese turns and strikes him once in the face. On his own Facebook page, Toese claims his reaction was self defense.

Toese told police interviewers he does not know the man but believed he was a protester from "the other side." Toese was arrested at the corner of Southwest Third Avenue and Southwest Madison Street, police said.

Multiple scuffles reportedly broke out between the groups present, though Toese's was the only arrest.

The event also provided a venue for Gibson to speak with Micah Fletcher — the only survivor of the TriMet stabbing incident May 26 that saw three men stabbed allegedly by Jeremy Christian, with Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and 53-year-old Army veteran Ricky Best sustaining fatal injuries.

As fighting broke out around Chapman Square, both Gibson and Fletcher ended their mostly one-sided conversation and moved on to apparently intervene in the scuffles, with Fletcher reportedly telling OregonLive after, "It was not as helpful as I thought it would be."

Image via Portland Police Bureau