Tag phoenix jones

Originally posted: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/131945518.html
By Lindsay Cohen
SEATTLE – An extra set of eyes is watching the streets of downtown Seattle, as self-styled superhero Phoenix Jones returned to his patrol after enduring a week filled with controversy.
ones, whose real name is Benjamin Fodor, was back walking the streets of Seattle on Saturday night. He patrolled with other members of the Rain City Super Heroes, as well as regular citizens he invited to tag along.
The group left from Pike Place Market around 10 p.m. and made a stop at Occupy Seattle before heading to Belltown.
Fodor says he wants to clear up confusion about his role and continue his mission.
“Theres been a lot of confusion about people thinking, like, I’m delusional or I’m crazy or that I don’t understand what I’m doing,” he says. “And I wanted people to walk around and understand what it is I’m doing.”
He says last week started off as one of his worst ever, but then quickly became liberating.
He was arrested early on the morning of Oct. 9, after an alleged fight that was caught on video by a friend.
On the videotape, Fodor runs up to a crowd while dressed in his superhero outfit, pulls out a can of pepper spray and appears to shoot it at several people.
He was arrested on suspicion of assault, but prosecutors earlier this week declined to file charges.
Outside court on Thursday, he dramatically took off his mask and revealed his true identity – and said he plans to keep fighting crime on the streets of Seattle, as he did Saturday night.
In fact, it’s something that everyone can do, in his or her own way, he says.
“Everyone’s doing it – they just don’t know,” says Fodor. “If you walk from your car to a show and back to your car, that’s being on patrol. The only difference is, when I see crime, I call 911 first, wait, and when it gets dangerous I step in. And I feel like every citizen could do that.”
Fodor adds that he’s in a backup suit, because what he calls his “super suit” was taken into evidence by police, after last week’s arrest.

Originally posted: http://publicola.com/2011/10/14/phoenix-jones-says-hes-training-a-replacement-hero-nightstick/
By Jonah Spangenthal-Lee

Originally posted: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15301830
A self-styled superhero known as Phoenix Jones has been unmasked in a Seattle court as he waits to see if he is charged with a pepper spray attack.
Police say Phoenix Jones – real name Benjamin Fodor – attacked four people who had left a Seattle nightclub.
As the court hearing ended, he tore off a dress shirt to reveal his black and yellow superhero costume.
Prosecutors said they had not yet decided whether to file charges, but Mr Fodor vowed to continue crimefighting.
The 23-year-old, who leads the Rain City Superhero Movement, said he was trying to break up a fight. The clubgoers insisted to police they were not fighting.
“I will continue to patrol with my team, probably tonight,” he told the Seattle Times on Thursday. “I am just like everybody else. The only difference is that I try to stop crime in my neighbourhood.”
During the hearing, a court officer asked Jones to remove his mask. He did so, but then put it back on to speak to reporters.
Seattle Police are not likely to be calling on Mr Jones to help them keep Seattle safe.
“If people want to dress up and walk around, knock yourself out,” said police spokesman Mark Jamieson. “Our concern is when you insert yourself into these situations without knowing the facts, it’s just not a smart thing to do.”
According to the Associated Press news agency, a police report says there have been increased reports of citizens being pepper-sprayed by the would-be superhero and his group.
Although Phoenix Jones “has been advised to observe and report incidents to [police], he continues to try to resolve things on his own,” the report says.

Originally posted: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/HOLD-UNTIL-CONFIRMED-Superhero-Phoenix-Jones-2213166.php
By CASEY MCNERTHNEY AND SCOTT SUNDE, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
In the streets of Belltown, he is Phoenix Jones Guardian of Seattle.
But this self-proclaimed superhero, who may be charged this week for a pepper-spray incident over the weekend, goes by another name: Benjamin Fodor. Or, if you’re a fan of mixed-martial arts fighting, you know him as “Flatttop.”
Fodor, who patrols downtown in a costume and with sidekicks, was arrested early Sunday for investigation of assault, and the City Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case.
Police say Fodor, 23, used pepper spray on a group of men and women early Sunday near the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Video of the incident shows two women chasing after Fodor and a man with face paint, hitting them and telling the self-proclaimed superheroes to leave.
In his other life, Fodor competes in the local world of mixed-martial arts fighting and has won a local championship. 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 him 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,” Officer Hosea Crumpton wrote in the Sunday incident 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.”
Last November, Seattle police officers were alerted to Fodor as Phoenix Jones and other self-described superheroes after similar police 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.
His story went viral last fall with publications across the globe weighing in.
Fodor as Phoenix Jones and others drew crowds for their patrols in Belltown earlier this year. At a Belltown community meeting late this summer, they distributed free canisters of pepper spray for self defense.
But patrol officers have long said these superheroes are putting themselves in danger by confronting people.
Seattle firefighters were called to treat those affected by pepper spray Sunday morning. Fodor, who calls himself Phoenix Jones in interviews, has said he is the victim.
A spokesman for Phoenix Jones, Peter Tangen, said 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 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,” he told KOMO/4. Speaking as Jones, he told the station that police did not take statements from companions who were on the scene.
However, the incident report shows police spoke to two people who were with Fodor at the scene. Both said they were there to document his activities. At least one cameraman typically follows Fodor, who wore a black-and-gold-colored suit.
Police have since confiscated his costume.
“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 e-mail 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 police 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, the police report describes about a minute of the video based on the time-stamp on the footage, which McNamee posted online.
In previous interviews with seattlepi.com, the man known as Phoenix Jones has said that is his name and not discussed his background other than saying the people in his group have military training or a martial arts background.
The spokesman for Jones, Peter Tangen, did not discuss Phoenix Jones’ legal name and said the man has “absolutely has no comment” on his name.
“There’s nothing delusional” Tangen said when asked of Fodor. “He’s just a civic activist trying to make the streets a safer place.”
Tangen said the man known as Phoenix Jones has to be vigilant about his safety and the safety of his family, including a young child. But he was not aware with specific threats against him.
The spokesman said Phoenix Jones was unlikely to talk to news outlets that published his name. Tangen said the he didn’t know if Fodor had applied to be a police officer, but said he did not have a military background.
Fodor, speaking as Jones, told KOMO/4 there’s video evidence of his being assaulted, but an officer didn’t want to see the evidence.
“Pepper spray is a defensive weapon, and if you watch the video, I’m being attacked,” he said. “And I only deploy the pepper spray when I’m being attacked.
“At no point did I hit anyone. At no point do I pepper-spray anyone who’s not attacking me. I’m very confident in the video.”
Police say they’re confident in their report. They also say people should not interject themselves into scenes that should be handled by professionals.
When the man known as Phoenix Jones spoke to seattlepi.com for the Nov. 2010 story that started the media whirlwind, he said he didn’t condone people walking around on the street with masks.
“Everyone on my team either has a military background or a mixed martial arts background,” he said, “and we’re well aware of what its costs to do what we do.”

Originally posted: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/10/11/new-york-city-superheroes-react-to-arrest-of-crime-fighter-phoenix-jones/
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – New York’s burgeoning amateur “superhero” community take notice: Don’t try breaking up a fight in Seattle.
The Big Apple is home to countless comic book superheros – and a few self-styled “real” ones.
The New York Initiative is a group of folks who wear costumes and say their goals are patrolling for criminals, public security, humanitarian outreach and more.
Their mission statement, found on their Facebook page, says “We are individuals organized towards achieving peacekeeping objectives and humanitarian missions. This will translate into a variety of non-monetary services as unfolding events demand. Our primary goal will always be to help those in the most need to the highest ethical standard and to the maximum effect.”
News of the arrest of one of their costumed colleagues in Seattle – a man who guys by the name Phoenix Jones – has their Facebook page humming.
The arrest came after a confrontation that was caught on video and is embedded below.
Phoenix Jones Stops Assault from Ryan McNamee on Vimeo.
Jones, whose real name is Benjamin Fodor, allegedly used pepper spray on four people. They say they were dancing in the streets; Jones says they were fighting and tried to break it up.
His actions have prompted a response within New York’s superhero community.
“I believe he acted inappropriately in this instance,” Chris Pollak, aka Dark Guardian, told CBSNewYork.  The Dark Guardian was featured in a documentary on real life superheroes, and he was seen rousting alleged drug dealers in Washington Square Park.
“He rushed into a situation and reacted with very poor judgement. He maced a group of people who were not attacking him. He was not acting in self defense and the police have rightfully charged him with assault,” Pollak said.
He added that he hopes Phoenix Jones’ actions don’t reflect on the superhero movement.
“This is an example of what not to do as a community crime-fighter. It should be a priority to deescalate situations and work hand in hand with the police to garner the smartest and safest outcome. I stand with the police and want everyone to know he is not a true reflection on what others like myself do in our communities to help,” Pollak said.
Reaction on the Intiative’s Facebook page was also intense.
“That’s what happens when you react the way he did,” self-styled hero Short Cut wrote. “Despite popular belief, you do not fight fire with fire. You are supposed to cool things down.”
“I’m pretty sure he just screwed it up for everyone,” wrote Jack Cero, another self-styled hero. “They now have precedent if his conviction goes through, and what’s more is that his charges will be double due to his body armor and mask.”
However, fan response on Jones’ Facebook page has been pretty massive, with scores of folks leaving messages of support.

Originally posted: origin.avclub.com/milwaukee/articles/milwaukee-gets-involved-in-seattles-real-life-supe,63183/

By Matt Wild
Say what you will about so-called “real life superheroes”—that they’re faintly ridiculous; that they’re nothing more than deluded goofballs in lousy Halloween Express costumes—but they sure know how to get some press. They do that even when it’s not quite the press they hope to get.
Take Seattle’s RLSH, “Phoenix Jones.” Early Sunday morning, Jones was arrested after allegedly attacking several people with pepper spray. Jones claims he was only trying to break up a street brawl, and that he used the spray only after being attacked himself. Accompanying Jones on his ill-fated “patrol” was Milwaukee’s Tea Krulos, a proponent of the local RLSH movement, and the author of an upcoming book on the subject. Krulos was interviewed by msnbc.com about this incident, and claimed in that interview that Jones was only protecting his fellow citizens:

“Six or seven guys were beating up two other guys,” Krulos said, adding he heard “loud, aggressive noises.” One victim was thrown to the ground and kicked in the ribs. “Two other guys were wrestling with each other but not in a playful way—and people were screaming.”
“Nobody was dancing, it was not ambiguous, there was definitely fighting,” he said.

On his Heroes In The Night blog, Krulos had this to add:

Well, it’s been a crazy weekend in Seattle. The media is blowing up with the story of Phoenix Jones being detained after intervening in a brawl. I was there. I witnessed the whole thing. I even got punched a couple times myself.
I will be giving a full account on the blog tomorrow. For now I want to dispute one thing—the people Phoenix disrupted WERE NOT DANCING/ “FROLICKING,” or “having a good time.”
They were beating the crap out of two people.

UPDATE: Krulos had this to say to The A.V. Club:

I don’t really condone or condemn Phoenix Jones’ tactics. However, the reports circulating about him are completely untrue. The police report was based on the word of the people attacking two people who fled the scene. The media, in turn, began to report this as fact and began reporting that Jones had snuck up on a group of people “dancing.”
Trust me, Tea Krulos knows a dance party when he sees one, and that was not a dance party. As we were approaching the group we saw one guy slam another guy on the ground and begin to kick him and two other guys were grappling each other. Phoenix Jones ran into the group and told the guys to back up. When they didn’t, he sprayed them with a high octane pepper spray. Things got pretty chaotic from there. Someone hit another person with a car, one of the girlfriends of the attackers began to hit Jones with her high heel shoe—I even got punched in the face by a Russian dude while I was calling 911, Ryan also got thrown into a wall. The Russian dudes also got in their escalade and tried to run Jones down at one point.
When the cops showed up, one of them was pretty pissed off and not at all happy to see Mr. Jones. An officer read me, Phoenix and Ryan our Miranda rights, but after he found out me and Ryan were media he told us to get out of there—didn’t take statements. They detained Jones and kept him over night, released him but confiscated his “super suit” as he calls it. He will appear in court later in the week.

A video of the incident can be found here. Dancing/frolicking, or beating/assaulting? And has the RLSH thing finally gone too far?
Phoenix Jones Stops Assault from Ryan McNamee on Vimeo.

Originally posted: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/phoenix-jones-real-life-seattle-superhero-arrested-for-pepper-spray-assault/2011/10/11/gIQAY1oTcL_blog.html
By Elizabeth Flock

Masked crusader Phoenix Jones, who says he often patrols the streets of Seattle in a superhero suit to stop crime, may have accidentally gotten involved in a crime.
In a situation almost straight out of the movie “Kick-Ass,” Jones is fighting an assault charge for allegedly spraying pepper spray on people, who he says were fighting. Seattle police say the people were dancing.
Jones is out of jail after being held Sunday night.
“Just because he’s dressed up in costume, it doesn’t mean he’s in special consideration or above the law,” Seattle police spokesman Det. Mark Jamieson said of the incident. “You can’t go around pepper spraying people because you think they are fighting.”
Jones, who has been unmasked by police as Benjamin Francis, insists he “witnessed a hit-and-run/attempted murder of a man and he responded to stop it,” according to a Facebook post.
Jones has posted this video as proof that a crime had taken place, though the video is shaky and unclear. In the video, it appears Jones and his sidekick, known as Ghost, run toward a group of people and try to break them up. A woman is then seen running after Jones and hitting him with her shoe. A BMW car appears, almost hits an unidentified man, and a person with Jones says to call 911 to report a hit-and-run.
In an interview with local station 97.3 FM, the woman who hits Jones with her shoe says she didn’t need the help.
Jones was wearing a black and gold superhero costume and a bullet-proof vest, and carrying two cans of pepper spray when police arrived at the scene.
Police took the suit, boots and mask from him, but Jones says he has a backup suit.
Jones is married to a woman he calls PurpleReign, another masked vigilante.
He is also the leader of the Rain City Superhero Movement, a group of self-proclaimed superheroes that has previously been credited with preventing a carjacking. Watch the report from that carjacking below:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AANmw2Oiyg

Originally posted: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Seattle-police-arrest-superhero-Phoenix-Jones-2210657.php
By CASEY McNERTHNEY, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
The man known as Phoenix Jones Guardian of Seattle, the self-proclaimed Seattle “superhero” who has received international media attention, was arrested and booked into King County Jail early Sunday morning for investigation of assault.
Shortly after 2:30 a.m., police were called to First Avenue and Columbia Street after an alleged assault with pepper spray. A group of men and women had left a club, were walking to their car and were “dancing and having a good time,” Seattle Police Det. Jeff Kappel said in a statement.
“An unknown adult male suspect came up from behind and pepper sprayed the group,” Kappel’s statement said. “Two men in the group chased after the suspect. Responding officers arrived on scene and separated the involved parties.”
The 23-year-old man arrested is the man previously identified by police as Phoenix Jones Guardian of Seattle. He was booked into jail shortly after 5 a.m. and released on bond about 12:45 p.m. Sunday, jail records show.
Jones is not the man’s real name. Seattlepi.com does not normally identify suspects in criminal cases until they’ve been formally charged by a prosecuting attorney’s office.
He’s expected to have a Thursday morning arraignment, where a plea would be entered. Police say the case involves four victims.
Other than the Sunday incident, the man known as Phoenix Jones doesn’t have a criminal history in Seattle Municipal Court. However, court records show he previously was arrested outside Seattle after being stopped for driving with a suspended license.
A spokesman for Phoenix Jones, Peter Tangen, told Publicola that a video of the incident tells a different story and that the self-proclaimed superhero was trying to break up a fight. He did not provide Publicola with a copy of the video.
“It’ll be interesting what [police] have to say when the video comes out,” Tangen told the site. “I’m very sure it’s going to show a different story than what police are saying.”
Police spokespersons on Sunday didn’t comment specifically on Jones’ behavior, other than Kappel’s statement which didn’t name him, though previously they’ve said self-proclaimed superheroes interjecting themselves into disputes could create problems.
Last

Originally posted: http://mynorthwest.com/284/552771/Local-superhero-Phoenix-Jones-breaks-up-bus-jacking?page=0
By
Listen to Seattle Super Heroes Thwart Car-Jacking
When a guy tried to steal a party bus last weekend in Belltown, it wasn’t the cops that thwarted the attempt. It was self-appointed Seattle crime fighter Phoenix Jones, his wife and sidekick Purple Reign, and their fellow costumed-colleague Myst.
Phoenix tells 97.3 KIRO FM’s John Curley Show the trio was on patrol in Belltown when they saw a guy jump on the bus and try to drive away. The driver tried to stop him and a struggle ensued. Jones jumped in.
He says he sprayed him in the face with a high powered pepper spray.
“He went down, I went to grab him and the bus starts to roll backwards. It rolls right into the middle of First and then gets nailed by an oncoming car,” Jones says.
The guy took off. Jones and team stayed behind to help.
While felony carjacking isn’t a common occurrence, fighting crime on the streets of Seattle certainly is for the trio along with the other members of the Rain City Superheroes.
“Usually there’s at least one crime per night that we intervene on, on a good night there’s three or four. Well, not a good night, but a bad night,” says Purple, clad in her black leather jacket and purple baseball cap protruding from her black ski mask covering her face.
They all remain anonymous. Phoenix wears his black and yellow helmet mask and Batman like body suit complete with sculpted abs. But underneath it’s all business: And they aren’t messing around.
“All of us are wearing bulletproofs, we’ve all taken some self defense class, we all call 911 the minute the crime happens,” says Phoenix.
The group defends its crime fighting, despite criticism from some quarters included the Seattle Police Department, who officially would rather they left it up to the pros. But they insist they are actually a help, not a hindrance.
“Recently, the cops ended up apprehending a guy that we were watching closely,” recounts Phoenix. He says they were keeping an eye on a guy who looked like he causing problems. The suspect was making advance on another man’s pregnant wife, and punched the husband in the face when he objected. The man ran off.
“I called Purple, and she had actually alerted the police for me […]the police roll in and I tell them ‘hey this is what the guy looks like, and we see the guy across the street.’ We take off, tackled him in the parking lot of a bank and the police took him out,” Phoenix says.
As for his age, Phoenix will only say he is in his early 20’s. And his speed? “Faster than most criminals,” he says.
But they use their brains as much as their brawn. The group tracks crime trends from the Seattle Police Department and patrols areas based on the data and their own intuition.
They also videotape all of their encounters. “Knowing that we have a camera guy that catches you being a criminal on tape, a lot of guys don’t like that,” Phoenix says.
Some suspect it’s all a massive stunt aimed at gaining wealth and fame. They insist they aren’t looking to get rich. But Jones admits they do need to raise some money to keep up the crime fighting. His shopping list includes a new crime fighting car and a certain kind of cell phone to help protect his identity.
“It’s very hard to roll anonymous these days,” he says.
The (Alleged) Adventures of Phoenix Jones from Village Voice Media on Vimeo.