Warning: Offensive material and language in video footage
Andy Ngo, a citizen-journalist who has led the way in exposing the violent, leftist group Antifa, got some justice in his civil suit Tuesday against three of the organization’s members, all “trans”-identified, with a judge ordering each to pay Ngo $100,000 in damages.
In a widely covered June 29, 2019, incident recorded on video, Ngo was violently attacked after showing up at an Antifa protest in Portland as an undercover reporter. Pro-Antifa protesters began screaming at him to “get the [f***] out of here” and pelted him with objects, including a milk shake, often at close range.
Ngo testified at his trial that “he had to undergo physical and cognitive therapy, and was left with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the attack. The incident also reportedly left Ngo with short-term memory issues, Ngo testified,” according to the Post Millennial, the conservative news site where Ngo serves as senior editor.
Each of the three defendants ordered to pay damages to Ngo identifies as transgender, reports P.M.
Ngo called the settlement a “victory” yet only a “small vindication” after, in the same trial, a jury found Antifa and two its alleged members not liable in the collective attack on him. He said he faces a “steep uphill battle to collect today’s awarded damages given the default defendants’ history of evasion.”
Ngo tweeted Tuesday: “BREAKING: At a hearing today regarding three defaulted Antifa defendants in my Ngo v. Rose City Antifa, et al. lawsuit, the court heard evidence about the brutal June 29, 2019 beating I suffered at a Rose City Antifa event where I was seriously injured. The court found that I was indeed battered and assaulted by Madison “Denny” Lee Allen, Katherine “Corbyn” Belyea and Sammich Overkill Schott-Deputy (formerly Joseph Christian Evans)….”
“The court awarded me $300,000 – to be split equally among these three attackers. Today’s victory is a small vindication for the disappointing jury verdict earlier this month at trial. Collecting on these judgments will pose serious challenges; however, I’m deeply grateful for the support of the [Center for American Liberty] and my counsel Dorothy Yamamoto, … Gregory Michael, [Harmeet Dhillon], James Buchal and [Mark Trammell] for believing in me, and helping me hold these attackers accountable for trying to violently silence my First Amendment rights.”
Ngo vowed to fight on for justice, writing: “While it will continue to be a steep uphill battle to collect today’s awarded damages given the default defendants’ history of evasion, I remain determined to hold Antifa and its members accountable for their violent attacks.”
P.M. tweeted out the original video of the Antifa assault against Ngo on July 31, the date his trial against Rose City Antifa began:
Ngo and his legal team were dismayed when “a jury in Multnomah County, Oregon, found Portland activists John Hacker and Elizabeth Richter not liable for assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress for their alleged attack” on him, as Fox reported Aug. 13.
His legal defense group, Center for American Liberty, said that verdict “sends a dangerous message to violent extremist groups: no one will stop you from your violent and wrongful activities.”
“This trial was riddled with intimidation by individuals believed to be associated with Antifa. Court proceedings were delayed and halted on multiple days due to threats of violence, and the jurors’ identities had to be sealed over serious concerns about external efforts to identify them,” the group said in a statement. “In fact, the defense’s attorney even declared she would ‘remember each one of their faces’ shortly after declaring she was Antifa – in our opinion, an unambiguous threat to the jurors.”
“Now, more than ever, the truth about Antifa and other radical left-wing violent groups must not be silenced,” CAL said.
It detailed what it said was a “targeted campaign of harassment and violence against Ngo”:
- Antifa members assaulted and threatened Ngo to the point of causing lasting and significant physical injuries.
- Antifa members publicized private and personal information about the whereabouts of Ngo and his family.
- Antifa members attempted to break into his family’s home.
- Antifa members stalked him in his daily life, harassing him and stealing his personal belongings.
In what many supporters of Ngo speculated was one example of the sort of criminal violence and retribution practiced by Antifa against its perceived enemies, Post Millennial reporter Katie Daviscourt tweeted Aug. 8 that her car was broken into with two windows smashed, and her belongings robbed, as she was reporting on Ngo’s trial: “BREAKING: After I left the courthouse where I was reporting on @MrAndyNgo’s trial against Antifa, I found that my car was broken into by my hotel. The windows were busted out, items were stolen, and personal identification documents were taken – I’m obviously upset.”
Post Millennial reported that one of the defendants ordered to pay damages to Ngo, Sammich Overkill Schott-Deputy, is a “39-year-old trans-identified male formerly known as Joseph Christopher Evans, has an extensive criminal history across several counties and states. On the same day that Schott-Deputy had allegedly attacked Ngo, he was seen on video physically beating a separate individual on the head from behind using a weapon or tool.”
