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Multnomah County released security footage late Monday of an altercation in front of the Central Library that led to a stabbing Aug. 25.
Earlier in the day, County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson called on District Attorney Nathan Vasquez to make the footage public because, she believed, accounts of the incident by the Portland Police Bureau and the media might not be accurate.
“There seems to be a serious discrepancy between the video I saw, reports from library and security staff, and how this incident was reported by PPB and subsequently some of the media,” Vega Pederson said in a statement. “To date, what has been shared publicly appears to rush to judgment around a serious incident involving young Black people despite the existence of video footage and statements that are more complicated.”
Vasquez countered, saying that Vega Pederson could release the video herself.
“If the chair believes the video should be made public immediately, she is within her authority to direct the library, a county department, to release it,” Vasquez said. “It is not the role of the district attorney’s office to try criminal cases via press releases, headlines, or social media commentary.”
The stabbing has escalated the fight between the city and the county about how to curtail drug dealing and violence outside the Central Library on Southwest 10th Avenue between Yamhill and Taylor streets. Intense finger-pointing began after Douglas Ivers, 50, was shot to death outside the library on July 1.
The latest incident started when the victim, Zebulin Hannon, and his partner were walking out of the Central Library and “noticed a disturbance between a group of people,” according to an affidavit submitted by deputy district attorney Christopher Rothfus on Aug. 26.
Hannon told a Portland police officer who responded to the incident that he “yelled at the group in an attempt to stop the disturbance,” the affidavit says.
In an interview with the Fox 12 television station, Hannon, who is homeless and uses the library daily, said the group was threatening people.
“For some reason, I decided to shine them on,” Hannon said in the interview. “So I started making this motion at them, like `boo hoo hoo.’”
He was attacked shortly after that, he said.
“I’m a decent fighter, but I was scared,” Hannon said. “I don’t get attacked by multiple people very often.”
County Commissioner Meghan Moyer, who represents District 1, which includes downtown, viewed the footage last week. It has no audio, making it difficult to know all the circumstances of the incident. But in her opinion, Moyer says, the footage shows no disturbance worthy of intervention by a passerby.
“There was no conflict and no issue among the young adults,” she said. Hannon “started yelling at them from across the street.”
The video shows a group of four people in front of the Central Library. They appear to socialize before turning at once to look at something across the street.
One of the men in the group goes toward the street and appears to talk to someone on the other side. Moments later, a man in a white hat crosses, and the two face off in front of the library while three people in uniform look on.
The man in the hat leaves, and some time later the group goes in his direction. The video doesn’t show the stabbing, which occurred beyond the camera’s view.
Just hours after Vega Pederson called for the release of the video, Vasquez’s office announced that a grand jury had indicted the three people, ages 18 to 21, on charges related to the stabbing, including assault, menacing, and unlawful use of a weapon. They are: Anthony Michael Nicholas, Ja’Riyah La Quice Williams and Daviana E. Anderson.
Andrew Hoan, president of the Portland Metro Chamber and the most persistent critic of the library’s security protocols, said in a statement to WW that Vega Pederson “continues to shift blame and dodge responsibility. Had she dedicated herself to implementing solutions when she was first made aware of the problem in early 2024, perhaps the county could have prevented numerous violent attacks and ended the open drug market at the Central Library.”
