Seattle 'superhero' avoids charges in crime-fighting fracas

Originally posted:
By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY
Nov 25, 2011
Phoenix Jones, a self-proclaimed superhero who roams Seattle streets to fight crime will not be charged for pepper-spraying a group he said he thought was fighting, The Seattle Timesreports.
Jones, who calls himself the leader of the Rain City Superhero Movement, faced a possible misdemeanor assault charge after the people he sprayed said they were dancing, not fighting.
Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes said one factor in the decision not to prosecute is a state law allowing a person to use force if they reasonably believe another person is about to be injured, The Times reports.
In addition, two of the alleged victims fled the scene and have not been located and interviewed, Holmes said.
As for the mission of the 23-year-old masked crusader, whose real name is Benjamin Fodor, Holmes said he “is no hero, just a deeply misguided individual.”
Jones, whose comments appear on his Facebook page Phoenix Jones & the Rain City Superhero Movement, says, ?”I symbolize that the average person doesn’t have to walk around and see bad things and do nothing.”
Jones could still face civil charges, the newspaper notes.

Superheroes and Angels Welcome New Citizen’s Arrest Laws

Changes unlikely to spark vigilantism, says justice minister

Originally posted: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/canada/superheroes-and-angels-welcome-new-citizens-arrest-laws-147695.html

By Matthew Little
Epoch Times Staff             Created: November 23, 2011 Last Updated: November 23, 2011

PARLIAMENT HILL—Caped crusaders can rest a little easier after Justice Minister Rob Nicholson tabled a bill to simplify and clarify citizen’s arrest laws on Tuesday.
Then again, Canada’s own real-life superheroes are more inclined to hand out blankets and teach school kids than take out drug dealers, so maybe it won’t matter much.
But store owners in Toronto’s Chinatown will be relieved. Long-standing grievances about shoplifters not getting serious police attention reached a breaking point for shopkeeper David Chen in May 2009 when he chased down and detained a thief who’d stolen plants from his Lucky Moose market earlier that day.
But because the crime was not in progress, Chen’s citizen’s arrest was illegal and his subsequent trial for assault and forcible confinement inspired NDP MP Olivia Chow to table a private member’s bill to overhaul citizen’s arrest legislation.
The Liberals tabled a similar bill, and the government eventually introduced its own version that died when the election was called. Now it’s back, and Chow said the new version is in line with what she wanted to see.
“I’m glad that my old private member’s bill, my Lucky Moose bill, has finally become the government bill,” Chow said Tuesday.
Chen, who was eventually acquitted, also welcomed the changes.
“If the law changes it will be good for so many people, any small business like me can have more power to protect our stuff,” said Chen. “We can do more.”
Nicholson seems to agree. He said Tuesday citizens trying to protect themselves or their property shouldn’t be afraid of becoming criminals themselves.
“Canadians want to know that they are able to protect themselves against criminal acts and that the justice system is behind them, not against them,” he said.

NDP MP Olivia Chow told reporters Tuesday that the new citizen’s arrest legislation is in line with what she had previously called for. (Matthew Little/The Epoch Times)


The re-introduced legislation will expand and simplify citizen’s arrest laws and widen the time period under which someone can make a citizen’s arrest. Current legislation limits citizen’s arrest to crimes in progress, which is why Chen faced charges.
But would-be superheroes still need to act responsibly lest they end up as Phoenix Jones in Seattle, the superhero persona of Benjamin Fodor who was denigrated by police as a vigilante and charged when he tried to break up a fight.
Canadians seem content to leave crime fighting to the police. The most well-known Canadian real-life superhero is Vancouver’s Thanatos, a 63-year-old former intelligence officer with the U.S. Army Special Forces.
Real Life Superhero
Thanatos began his crime-fighting career four years ago with plans to stop criminals in their tracks. Wearing a skeletal cloth mask and clad in black, the unidentified man quickly changed course after taking to the streets and realizing any drug dealer he did stop would be quickly replaced by another.
“You learn going head to head with these people is just not going to do anything,” he said in a Skype video chat, mask on.
Now he hands out blankets and food, and tries to comfort the afflicted. Over the years, he estimates he’s added a day to the lives of at least 600 people.

But 15 years ago in Toronto, he grabbed a machete from home and faced off with a group of kids, some armed with guns, who were terrorizing a shopkeeper. His efforts got him and the kids arrested, but it didn’t dampen his hope to make a difference.
“I have always believed in stepping in. … It was a little aggressive but I was afraid for my friends in the store.”
Like others, Thanatos, (named for a Greek demon of death) said Canada’s complicated citizen’s arrests laws left him uncertain about taking certain actions when he eventually donned a costume and took to the desperate streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
But he never considered being a vigilante, a position others interested in citizens’ arrests echoed.
“You don’t want vigilantes—you don’t want that. You have a justice system, maybe it is flawed and overcrowded, but it is working. People taking the law in their own hands doesn’t work well.”
He points to the case of three Chilliwack, B.C., teenagers who became entangled in controversy last week for their efforts to lure sexual predators into the open and YouTube the encounters.
The teens posed as underage girls online to lure predators, then filmed the face-to-face encounters while dressed as Batman and Flash.
Thanatos said the teens took incredible risks unwisely. “Sexual predators are probably one of the more dangerous breeds of criminals,” he said.
Predators can lose their jobs, families, and standing in the community if exposed. “That could be enough to drive someone to do something extremely violent.”
Canada’s other prominent real-life superhero (RLSH), Anonyman in Saskatchewan, also focuses on surveillance and public awareness.
According to Peter Tangen, a photographer who launched the Real Life Super Hero Project and helped arrange interviews with Thanatos and Anonyman, most RLSHs are best described as activists who use costumes as a way to brand good deeds and draw attention to their causes.
Guardian Angels
While Thanatos and Anonyman follow a non-confrontational path now, focusing on surveillance and aid to the needy, Canadian chapters of the Guardian Angels had hoped to start a more direct grassroots crime prevention movement. But there too, complicated citizen’s arrest laws were not the deciding factor that has kept the angels from taking off.
Greg Silver heads up the Calgary chapter of the group. Although the angels remain more active in the United States and other countries, their red berets are rarely seen on Canadian streets.
The group works on a variety of actions but is best known for its patrols and efforts to encourage citizens to confront crime where it happens, going so far as to stop criminal activity and make citizen’s arrests.
“Everybody likes the fact that we are out there, but nobody wants to put themselves in danger. Nobody wants to step in,” said Silver, explaining the limited presence of angels in Canada.
Currently, there are only a handful of active angels in Canada, he said. Calls to other Canadian chapters listed on GuardianAngels.org went unanswered, with some numbers now defunct.
GuardianAngelsCanada.org, the purported Canadian website for the group, is now a Japanese dating site, the domain name apparently having been repurchased.
Silver said the group has found it near impossible to recruit members willing to go on patrol.
“You kind of make a target out of yourselves,” he offered as explanation.
Dave Schroeder, the group’s Canadian coordinator, said there are a core group of angels active in Canada but patrols have declined due to a lack of people.
“While most people we encounter say ‘what a great idea’… it seems that very few people decide to really make that commitment and do what it takes to get out there.”
But citizens have a right to stop crime he said, welcoming improved citizen’s arrest legislation.
“Bottom line is, if more people understood that Canadian citizens are born with the right to assist someone in trouble, and use reasonable force to do so, [they can] make a citizen’s arrest.”
Silver said the group was warned by a lawyer that they could be liable for actions taken on private property, even in the case of a rape, under current laws.
But like Canada’s masked crusaders, the angels also discourage vigilante activity, saying their efforts focus on legal actions and supporting the police.
Victor Kwong, a media relations officer with the Toronto Police Service, said the group was not welcome in Toronto, in part because they were crossing a vague boundary between citizens and a quasi-policing group.

Citizen’s arrests are happening in Toronto regardless, he said, but mainly by security guards trained in relevant laws. Outside the high-profile case at the Lucky Moose, the average Joe rarely makes a citizen’s arrest, he said.
While citizen’s arrests are one way people can help police, it certainly isn’t the only way he said.
“You can call police, be a good witness,” he said.
That means not sharing your observations until you talk to police he said, noting that people’s memories get tainted when they discuss what they saw with others who add their own variations and embellishments.

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Shazam! Real-life superheroes to the rescue

Originally posted: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Shazam+Real+life+superheroes+rescue/5740438/story.html
By Douglas Quan, Postmedia News     November 20, 2011

By day, they are regular folks with full-time jobs, bills to pay and mouths to feed.
By night, they are masked and sometimes-caped crusaders, who troll the streets looking to help the needy, stamp out crime and fulfil their comic-book inspired dreams.
But lately the mostly anonymous members of the so-called Real Life Superheroes movement (known as RLSH) in Canada and the U.S. have been feeling a bit of angst and more than a little misunderstood after a bout of bad publicity.
First, there was the arrest last month of Seattle’s high-profile crime fighter Phoenix Jones (whose real name is Ben Fodor) over an alleged assault. Jones, who wears a black-and-gold uniform complete with Batman-like fake abs, says he unleashed a canister of pepper spray to break up a fight.
Then last week, Canadians learned about a group of B.C. teens who posed as underaged girls online, lured men into encounters and then confronted them at designated meeting spots in Batman and Flash costumes while video cameras rolled. Police immediately rebuked the sting operations, saying the teens put themselves at risk.
“I’m sorry if I am being cautious, but you do understand … we are in a fragile state because a few of us have been seen as, well, vigilantes or worse,” said Ark, a Toronto-based superhero in an email.
“Media is a powerful thing, and I honestly don’t want you or any other kind of reporter dragging the Canadian RLSH down.”
Members of the movement, which was the subject of an HBO documentary earlier this year, insist their mission is simple: to do good deeds and inspire others to do the same. That includes participating in neighbourhood patrols, working with charities and helping the homeless.
Sure, their costumes are gimmicky, but the shtick sticks in people’s minds and draws attention to their causes, they say. Vigilantism, they insist, is not condoned.
“They’re not vigilantes. They’re not doing anything against the law. They may be using unusual methods, but they’re using symbolism to market good deeds,” said Peter Tangen, a Hollywood movie poster photographer who has done photo shoots with dozens of real life superheroes across the U.S.
There are more than 600 people worldwide listed as members on the website reallifesuperheroes.org. Most are based in the United States.
They include New York City’s Dark Guardian, who flushes out drug dealers in Washington Square Park; red-white-and-blue-uniformed DC Guardian, who patrols the nation’s capital while dispensing copies of the U.S. Constitution; Super Hero in Clearwater, Florida, who drives around in a Corvette Stingray and helps stranded motorists; and Urban Avenger, who breaks up fights outside bars in San Diego.
There are at least a handful of real-life superheroes scattered across Canada. In Vancouver, there’s Thanatos, a married 63 year-old ex-U.S. military officer and self-proclaimed “comic book geek,” who is named after the Greek god of death.
Thanatos, who works in the death industry – he declined to say what he does exactly – says he acts as an extra set of eyes and ears for the police in the Downtown Eastside and also hands out food, blankets and socks to the homeless every month.
He cuts a creepy look, dressed in a black trench coat, black and green skull mask and flattened Australian bush hat. The getup, he admits, can freak out some people.
But accompanying each care package is a slip of paper bearing the words “Thanatos – Real Life Superhero” on one side and “Friend” on the other.
“They know they have a friend out there, even if it’s a crazy guy with a mask,” he said.
Toronto’s Ark is a 26-year-old guitar-playing security guard, who says he feels compelled to jump in to help the “less fortunate, the troubled and the weak.”
“I, for some reason, care for the unfortunate, and I don’t tolerate people who take advantage of other people,” he said.
Though he has broken up fights over the years, Ark says he’s “not really a crime fighter. I don’t go out of my way to find trouble.” He prefers walking around handing out sandwiches and coffee to the needy.
His uniform is simple – “I don’t dress to impress,” he says – consisting of black tactical pants, black tactical jacket, black military hat and partial face mask.
He also wears a bulletand stab-proof vest and brings along his “tactical hard knuckles and soft padded gloves” – for “deterrent” purposes.
One of the newer members to the movement is exreservist Crimson Canuck, a married, 24-year-old father, in Windsor, Ont., who works as a telephone technician.
He says he was drawn to the movement out of a desire to make the city better. “I don’t want my daughter to be afraid to go downtown,” he says.
Crimson Canuck, whose outfit consists of a crimson shirt, red tie, black vest, grey slacks, combat boots, black fedora and partial face mask, recently blogged about his first-ever downtown street patrol.
Before he left the door, his wife “called me a fool and made sure I brought mace, in case things got hairy,” he wrote.
But things didn’t get hairy. In fact, it was a quiet night.
“No action,” he wrote. “Not even a car alarm.”
He ended the night instead by grabbing some food from McDonald’s and sharing some of it with a homeless man in a wheelchair.
“I’ve done my share of bad things,” he wrote. “But now might be a good time to make up for it all. I’m not a clean-cut good guy. I’m just a guy who wants to do good.”

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

Real Life Superheroes

Originally posted: http://blogzilla2010.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/real-life-superheroes/?like=1  on November 15, 2011 by

Jolie Lassen
Do you think superheroes exist? No?
But in America a real subculture of so called heroes do exist. There are men and women wearing costumes, adopting pseudonyms and doing good deeds. The Real Life Superheroes. They act anonymous and selfless and try to make Americas streets a bit more secure and the world a bit better.
They bridge the gap between the fantastic and the practical.
They combat crime, hand out supplies to the homeless, comforting the sick or just cleaning up their neighborhood.
Of course The Real Life Superheroes have no supernatural power. They have tear gas, taser, a bit of self-defense and the will to change something.
But who are these modern heroes? Everyone could be one of them. They are every kind of people – clerical assistants, doctors, streetworker, politicians or ex-junkies. It is irrespective of the sex, the profession, the status or what ever.
Their actions serve as reminders. People have blinded themselves to simple principles and goodwill. They lost their readiness to help others.
The different Superheroes focus on different actions and locations.
Terrifica for example is roaming the streets, clubs and bars of New York. She got her tear gas, mobile phone and camera with her and. The thirty year old woman with blond hair and red battle dress wants to defend young woman against violation of men. In case of doubt she uses her camera to be able to proof the criminal act.
Geist acts in Minnesota. He is there where the police just no longer get. He appears out of the blue, doing good deeds and disappears again. He helps the homeless, victims of violence and homeless animals.
Thantos is a sixty two years old Superhero helping drug addicted people in the streets of Vancouver. He shares out blankets, clothes and food wearing a green mask, a black trench coat and a tie with skulls.
The Real Life Superhero Project first should make people recognize this new breed of activism and altruism. But more and more people get interested and the scope and purpose expanded very fast.
Due to the financial crisis many people lost a lot of money, their jobs and even their homes. Their desire for security increases.
In the middle of instability and political uncertainty those heroes offer a bit stability to the people. There are those benefactors in disguise who dispread optimism and confidence through their brave. That is – as it seems – what America needs right now.
It started as a gallery exhibit but it became the base of something much greater. The Real Life Superhero Project is a living community which inspires the general public to be part of the positive flow to change something in the world we all have to live in.
Thereby they could become more active, more involved, stronger and a little bit more “super”.
Their gain is to help the poor and underdogs and to make other people help too.
The Real Life Superheroes have a website where they explain the world who they are, what they do and what they want. At the end there is that one sentence we all should keep in mind. “And hopefully, you will come to realize that it doesn’t take a cape to go out and help someone, just the desire to become an active force in your own life, and see how that can affect others.”
So, do you think superheroes really exist? It doesn’t matter how we call them it’s about what they do. We all are able to be a kind of superhero. So why don’t we start?
Today there are twenty nine of those Real Life Superheroes in America. Maybe even tomorrow there will be more.
Let’s find the hero in all of us.

Occupy Oakland Arrests: Armor-Wearing "Real Life Superhero" Faces Resisting Arrest Charge

Originally posted: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2011/11/occupy_oakland_arrests_armor-w.php
By Lauren Smiley Tue., Nov. 8 2011 at 9:25 AM
UPDATE, 12:50 p.m.: Those who want to donate to Sorvari’s bail fund can do so here.
Original story:
Three of the Occupy Oakland protesters who were arrested after last week’s General Strike turned chaotic were arraigned in Alameda Superior Court on Monday. Among them was a roughed up “real-life superhero” who had attended the march dressed as a ninja with homemade armor, but whose family believes he might have been mistaken by cops for a black bloc anarchist.
Roy Sorvari, a 22-year-old former Boy Scout who lives with his parents in Antioch, answered to charges of resisting arrest — prosecutors alleged he kicked and attempted to hit a cop with his shield. With stitches in his forehead and two black eyes, the 5-foot-5, 130-pound Sorvari claims he had been beaten and knocked unconscious during the early hours last Thursday — perhaps by police — after the protest turned violent, according to his attorney, Jeffrey Kaloustian, of the National Lawyers Guild. Sorvari faces a felony charge of resisting arrest and a $15,000 bail.
The Alameda County district attorney didn’t file charges for eight other protesters of the 11 who were scheduled to be arraigned yesterday. They were the same ones who’d been held in custody over the weekend or who’d posted bail, according to Greg Michalec of Occupy Legal, an organization set up for the legal defense of arrested demonstrators. The rest of the 103 protesters arrested during last week’s strike will be arraigned in the coming weeks.
Sorvari, awesomely, belongs to a international confederation of civilian peacekeepers — somewhat akin to the Guardian Angels — who don cartoonish costumes and call themselves the “Real Life Superheroes.” The group claims about a half-dozen members in the Bay Area, said a fellow superhero with the handle “Motor Mouth” who showed up in the courtroom Monday to support Sorvari.
“Motor Mouth” said he and Sorvari — whose superhero handle is “Ray” — have been providing security at night for the Occupy Oakland encampment in Frank Ogawa Plaza, protecting the people’s right to assembly.
While “Motor Mouth” didn’t attend the general strike last week, he says Sorvari showed up in his usual superhero get-up — a black balaclava, all-black clothes, ski goggles, and homemade body armor that lights up. In addition, “Motor Mouth” says he’d lent Sorvari a Captain America-like shield for the event.
“Motor Mouth” says he is “120 percent sure” that cops had mistaken Sorvari for one of the black bloc anarchists who emerged after the peaceful march, breaking windows and setting fire in downtown Oakland in the early morning hours on Thursday.
Sorvari’s mother, Lynn, said, “Maybe that was a mistake; maybe he should have had a more high-profile costume.”
His parents, who are between jobs and have four other children, say they are going to start a PayPal account for donations to help them pay $1,500 — the 10 percent they have to put up for Sorvari’s bail. We’ll post an update as soon as the account is up and running.
When Kaloustian came out Monday afternoon after talking to Sorvari, he delivered the following message to “Motor Mouth,” who was waiting in the hallway: “Sorry about losing your shield.”
Follow us on Twitter at @TheSnitchSF and @SFWeekly

SkyMan: Federal Way superhero fights crime, helps homeless

Originally posted: http://www.federalwaymirror.com/news/132966828.html
By GREG ALLMAIN
Federal Way Mirror reporter
Oct 31 2011
Skyler Nichols, also known as SkyMan, is Federal Way’s very own Real Life Superhero.
Nichols, who recently made an appearance during Federal Way’s Recycle Palooza, hopes to help his hometown in whatever way he can through his alter ego of SkyMan, the Tri-Colored Crusader.
Nichols decided to try and help in Federal Way, after being an active member of the Seattle group of Real Life Superheroes (RLSH), whose most famous member is Phoenix Jones.
“I’ve been operating in the greater Seattle/King County area for 18 months now, and I live here in Federal Way, and I’m really trying to become more local,” he said. “I see Federal Way hurting, and I’d like to help out.”
Nichols, 28, says he sees the effects of the economic downturn on Federal Way, and the effect on some of Federal Way’s residents, such as the transient population. He used The Commons Mall as a glaring example of the slow decay that has overtaken Federal Way and many cities in the Puget Sound area.
“I grew up in this mall. It used to be filled. Now it’s just got anchor stores that keep it going, like Target and Sears,” Nichols said. “It’s sad, this place. You walk through it, there’s so many empty storefronts. Suburbia in general. Auburn, Kent, Burien. We’re all hurting.”
With Phoenix Jones more well known as being a “crime fighter,” Nichols is more interested in helping those who are vulnerable, like the homeless. His own experiences of not having a roof over his head have led him to try and help the most disadvantaged in the area.
“I want to help people…I consider myself a humanitarian first as a real life superhero. One of the reasons I decided to start with charity work and homeless outreach is it was simple, and it was what I could do,” he said. “I was homeless for a time in 2003. I was so drug addled and not wanting to hurt my father anymore, I went and slept under the viaduct for four months. And it’s just…I see these people hurting.”
Nichols is more focused on helping those who can’t help themselves. He said he has patrolled the streets and has even broken up a few muggings in his patrols.
“I have done my fair share of patrolling, so I know what street crime is about. In fact, I’ve stopped a few muggings, just by my presence, and my colorful, exuberant costume,” he said of his encounter with would-be muggers. “They’re like ‘Whoa, who’s this guy in armor and colors?’”
The more traditional idea of a superhero asserted itself in Nichols when he discussed the recent police blotter item in The Mirror regarding a man who was caught masturbating at the public library.
“I read that story, I go to the library at least once a week. If I had seen that dude doing that, he would have gotten a tri-colored talking to,” he said.
One of the largest ways that Nichols had contributed to the greater Seattle and Puget Sound communities was by doing homeless outreach. He would prepare care packages for homeless people. With the economic downturn, and he and his father’s increasing reliance on social programs just to survive, Nichols said his work in helping the homeless has petered out recently. He hopes the community can help with donations or other information, so he can become a larger part of the social fabric of Federal Way.
“I would like donations…I’m a charity-based superhero, but I live on welfare. My cash grant, from DSHS, the funding is just not there. So I haven’t been able to participate or give back in a homeless outreach in several months,” he said. “I don’t have a PayPal account, I don’t really have something to take donations with, but if somebody would come along and give me some guidance on how to take proper donations, that’d be great.”
Barring donations, Nichols is also looking to connect with the community through social media, and to find out about groups and charities in Federal Way where he could help.
“I hope you friend me people, I hope you have suggestions for me for what I can do to help the community of Federal Way, exciting options and organizations and everything. I really want to become a more of a local guy, a local hero,” he said.
Nichols understands that many people are probably dubious of “costumed activists,” as he likes to term it. He said there is an excellent documentary playing in Seattle that explains the ideas and motivations behind real life superheroes. The movie is called “Superheroes,” and will run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 at Seattle’s Grand Illusion Theater (1403 NE 50th St., Seattle, WA 98105). The film will show at 7 and 9 p.m. Visit www.grandillusioncinema.org for more information.
Regardless of any of the external attachments of being a real life superhero, Nichols said he’s just motivated to be the best person he can, in whatever way he can.
“All SkyMan really is, is a philosophy of trying to do good, trying to live up to heroic ideals and principles,” he said. “I don’t really like to claim I’m a hero, I like to say I’m aspiring to that…Living my daily activities as a real life superhero has just cemented my firm belief that that’s what I want to do in life. Which is ultimately help people and inspire others to get away from apathy and more into altruism.”
Learn more
Nichols can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/skyler.nichols. To learn more about the Real Life Superhero community, visit www.reallifesuperheroes.org.

DSHS: Phoenix Jones could someday work with kids again

Originally posted: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/133198043.html
SEATTLE – Self-appointed superhero crime fighter Phoenix Jones could return to his day job of working with children if he is not charged or convicted of assault, state officials said Thursday.
Ben Fodor, aka “Phoenix Jones,” was informed this week by the state Department of Social and Health Services he could no longer work with vulnerable children. He had been employed teaching life skills to autistic children under contract to DSHS as a home-care provider.
The ban against working with children stems from his arrest on suspicion of assault last month, but he still has not been charged and the case is still before the city attorney.
An assault conviction would ban Fodor permanently from working with vulnerable people. But if he is not charged or convicted of the assault, he can request that his contract status be reinstated, said DSHS spokeswoman Jennifer M. Gau.
Fodor, 23, denies assaulting anyone. He says he himself was attacked while breaking up a late night fight last month and used pepper spray in self-defense. Police arrived at the scene and arrested him.
Gau says Fodor’s DSHS contract came up for renewal in October, and the arrest appeared on his background check, so his contract was not extended.
“If he is not convicted of the assault, Fodor can request that his contract status be reinstated,” Gau said. “Meanwhile, he has the right to appeal the decision not to extend his contract.”
On his Facebook page, Fodor says the loss of his job won’t stop him from his mission as Phoenix Jones.
In fact, he says he’ll start patrolling during the day when he isn’t looking for a new job.

State keeping 'superhero' away from disabled kids

Originally posted: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/State-keeping-superhero-away-from-disabled-kids-2249423.php
Seattle’s self-proclaimed superhero Phoenix Jones lost his job working with disabled children after his arrest for investigation of assault.
On Oct. 11, two days after he was arrested by Seattle police, the Department of Social and Health Services alerted his employer about the case, said DSHS spokeswoman Sherry Hill, who handles children’s administration.
“The provider was asked to remove him from any cases that we had,” Hill said. DSHS asked that he not be around vulnerable children while the case was pending, she said.
That caused Jones — whose real name is Ben Fodor — to lose his job working with autistic kids ranging from age 4 to 18, according to Publicola. “I had to leave work in the middle of the day,” he told the website. “It was embarrassing.”
Hill clarified that Fodor is not permanently disqualified from working with kids, but the agency wanted to “err on the side of caution” by telling his employer about the assault investigation.
Fodor, 23, was arrested the morning of Oct. 9 after police said he interjected himself into a crowd near the Alaskan Way Viaduct and pepper-sprayed innocent people. Fodor, who speaks to media as Phoenix Jones, has said he was trying to break up a fight and was later assaulted.
Fodor was released on bond just after noon the day he was arrested. On Oct. 13, he said he was not guilty of a crime. He has not been charged in the case.
But Fodor could still be charged with assault, and a spokeswoman for City Attorney Pete Holmes, Kimberly Mills, said this week that a final decision has not been made. People who are convicted of assault are prohibited by law from jobs working with vulnerable adults and children.
Employers are required to background-check people who work with developmentally disabled children and adults. People who do not pass the background check are put on a state list disqualifying them from such jobs.
Fodor could go back to his job if the case is dropped and he is not convicted, Hill said.
Often an attention seeker, Fodor went to his Oct. 13 court hearing with a mask, but had to take it off inside the courtroom. He revealed himself outside court as television cameras rolled, but didn’t talk then about the alleged assaults.
“I think I have to look toward the future and see what I can do to help the city,” he told reporters.
Police say he should not interject himself in situations, but should call 911. Fodor promised he’d be back on “patrol” soon.
Fodor also goes by “Flattop” when he fights in the local mixed martial arts scene.
Speaking as the costumed Phoenix Jones Guardian of Seattle, Fodor has told reporters he was breaking up a fight during the Oct. 9 incident.
Police say he barged into the situation — something they say he’s done in several other cases — and assaulted the women and men with pepper spray.
Video of the incident shows two women chasing Fodor and a man with face paint, hitting them and telling the self-proclaimed superheroes to leave.
A woman in the group admitted she hit him, but only after he used pepper spray on her friends for no reason, she said.
“He says, ‘I’m a superhero’ and sprays everyone,” the woman told KING/5. “Nothing gives him a right to do that. That’s harassment and assault.”
Seattle firefighters were called to treat those affected by the pepper spray during the incident. Fodor has said he is the actual victim.
While dressed as Phoenix Jones at an August Belltown community meeting, Fodor promoted the use of pepper spray for self defense.
A spokesman for Phoenix Jones, Peter Tangen, said last month that it appears the officer who arrested Jones had an agenda and that, when Jones said he was assaulted, the officer laughed at him. He also said police have refused to take statements from two people who were following Jones.
“I think the biggest story here is that the SPD didn’t really follow protocol in any way, shape or form,” Fodor told KOMO/4 as Phoenix Jones last month.
A police incident report shows police spoke to two people who were with Fodor at the scene.
At least one cameraman typically follows Fodor as he walks around Seattle in his black and yellow costume, and both people were said to have been there to document the self-proclaimed superhero’s activities.
“That video began in the area of 1 Av/Columbia St looking to the west,” the report from Officer Hosea Crumpton states. “On the video a group of people could be seen on Columbia St looking to the west. The group was gathered, but there did not appear to be a fight. A/Fodor could be seen running into the group and engaging the subjects. A/Fodor could be seen pepper spraying several individuals in the group. People in the group then turned on A/Fodor and chased him away.”
The cameraman who took that video, Ryan McNamee, initially told seattlepi.com in an email that “police have not contacted me for a statement and has not shown any interest in my footage or what the other journalist and I saw.”
Asked about the police report in which officers describe the video, McNamee said that “police glanced at my camera for a couple of seconds but didn’t examine the footage or ask to see it in any detail.”
However, based on the time-stamp on the footage, the police report describes about a minute of the video, which McNamee posted online.
Download a PDF copy of the Seattle police incident report.
Fodor is also known as the mixed martial arts fighter “Flatttop.” According to mixedmartialarts.com, Fodor’s won his first official amateur fight in December 2006 and had his last win in July 2010. His record is 11-0, and his last fight ended in a two-round TKO.
A Seattle Twitter account, @FlattopFodor, describes Fodor as the current two-time Ax Lightweight Champion and current welterweight champion in Washington. The last tweet from the account was Aug. 5, 2010.
As Phoenix Jones, Fodor “has a history of injecting himself in these incidents,” Crumpton wrote in the alleged assault report. “Recently there have been reports of citizens being pepper-sprayed by (him) and his group. Although (the man) has been advised to observe and report incidents to 911, he continues to try and resolve things on his own.
“There was a report earlier in the night in which several nightclub patrons had been reportedly been pepper-sprayed by (him) during some type of disturbance. Those people left the area before they could be contacted by police. Officers arriving on that call noted the odor of pepper spray was still in the air.”
In November 2010, Seattle police officers were alerted to Phoenix Jones and other self-described superheroes, after officers were confused by their presence at crime scenes.
Officers had learned the identity of Jones before the bulletin was distributed. The “superheroes’ ” story – often compared to the movie “Kick Ass” – exploded in popularity after seattlepi.com first reported on an internal police bulletin, which said the characters drove a Kia registered to one superhero’s godmother.
Seattlepi.com did not initially name Fodor because he wasn’t the subject of a criminal investigation. Fodor does not have any other criminal charges in Seattle. He was previously arrested in Washington after being stopped driving with a suspended license, according to court records.
For more Seattle police and crime news visit the front page of the Seattle 911 blog.

Phoenix Jones Loses Job, Barred From Working With Children

Originally posted: http://publicola.com/2011/11/02/phoenix-jones-loses-job-barred-from-working-with-children/
By Jonah Spangenthal-Lee

Seattle’s most famous masked crusader, Phoenix Jones, is now an unemployed superhero after he was let go from his job teaching life skills to autistic kids, and told by the state that he is no longer allowed to work with vulnerable children or adults following his arrest last month, PubliCola has learned.
“I had to leave work in the middle of the day,” Jones says. “It was embarrassing.”
Jones explained that he has worked with five developmentally disabled autistic children—who ranged in age from four to 18 years old—for the last five years at their homes and state care facilities, going shopping with them, teaching them to balance checkbooks, and going for walks.
Jones’ latest troubles come weeks after he was arrested by Seattle police for allegedly pepper spraying a group of men and women near Pioneer Square. Jones claims he was breaking up a fight, but police arrested him for assault.  Following a court appearance in the case, Jones revealed his secret identity as 23-year-old mixed martial arts fighter Ben Fodor.
Prosecutors have not filed charges for the incident, and a spokeswoman for the city attorney’s office says the case is still being investigated.
Last week, Jones received a letter from the state Department of Social and Health Services, informing him he is no longer allowed to work with kids. PubliCola was not able to determine exactly why DSHS disqualified Jones from working with kids, but it appears to be due to his pending assault case.
When contacted for a comment, Jones said he had been advised not to speak extensively about the circumstances of his apparent termination, but confirmed he was no longer able to work with autistic children.
“They all knew I was Phoenix Jones,” he says.
Jones says that because of his arrest, he’s on “a list” that prohibits him from working with children, because he has “a history of interjecting myself into situations that are dangerous.”
Jones, naturally, disputes that characterization. “I would say I have a history of fighting crime,” he says. “The whole point of what I do is to keep people safe.”
Jones isn’t sure how he’ll pay the bills now. He says he’s received offers for fight bouts from the Strikeforce mixed martial arts organization, and plans to start fighting crime in the daytime, in addition to his night patrols around Seattle. Other than that, he says, “I really don’t know.”

Vigilantes should be able to fight crime without being interfered with

Originally posted: http://sundial.csun.edu/2011/10/vigilantes-should-be-able-to-fight-crime-without-being-interfered-with/
By Ron Rokhy
Since its inception, America has had its fair share of criminals — and people who fight them.
But before there even was a Supreme Court to combat crime, one group did: we, the people. In 1760, citizens in North Carolina took up arms against corrupt officials, marking the first known instance ofvigilantism in America’s history.
Branded as vigilantes, citizens who skip due process and punish criminals in the name of justice are seen as heroes by their peers, but many times, their actions are deemed unlawful by the government — and could land them in hot water.
But should their actions be illegal? Is it wrong for private individuals to take matters into their own hands and fight for what’s right when it can’t be done through legal means?
Absolutely not. Vigilantes, in a way, are like a bandage. When the legal system’s armor cracks and people like OJ Simpson use loopholes to get away with murder, or when victims get hit with frivolous lawsuits from burglars who injure themselves during break-ins, they step in and try to  glue everything back together.
America has a certain law that makes little sense: If someone witnesses a non-violent crime, such as a break-in or a theft, they’re not allowed to physically interfere. Putting their hands on a criminal could result in assault charges, such as the case of the Phoenix Jones, the real-life Seattle superhero, who pepper-sprayed two people he said were fighting.
Crime-fighters like Jones and his rag-tag group of criminal fighters, who patrol streets donning capes and costumes, shouldn’t be arrested for stopping criminals, they should instead be given medals for supplying the public with the swift kind of justice that our government can’t always provide.
People shouldn’t be forced to sit idly by and wait for police to show up. If they feel they can stop a criminal in the process of an illegal act, they should do so without the fear of getting hit with excessive force charges.
In 2010, a man in Washington was brought up on assault charges because he kicked a burglar in the face as police arrived and witnessed the event. Indicting people for forcefully punishing those that wronged them is counterproductive because it shows tolerance towards crime.
Criminals caught in the act shouldn’t enjoy protection just because a citizen busted them instead of a police officer — they should have little to no rights at all.
Don’t want to get beat? Don’t do something stupid. Simple, really.
However, some people argue that vigilantes risk getting the wrong person, violating the “innocent until prove guilty” presumption. For example, Michael Zenquis was wrongly beaten in the summer of 2009 because a group of people thought he was a child rapist.
That being said, it’s important to note that the legal system faces the same kind of downfall.
Alton Logan spent 26 years in a prison after being falsely convicted of a murder he did not commit. If mistakes are grounds for deeming something illegal or immoral, then our justice system fits the bill as well.
As a society, we should embrace self-policing and actively be involved in it, even if it means cracking down harshly on criminals.