A man who drove a car into a pedestrian area full of pro-Palestine protesters and sprayed mace at the crowd faces no charges.

On May 2, Wheeler Tosh Nealy drove a white Toyota Camry into a crowd gathered at Portland State University, where he was seen macing activists, before fleeing the scene on foot. Nealy, 25, was later detained by campus police, but his case was never brought to the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office (MCDA). 

Per the police report, Nealy confessed that he disagreed with the protest and drove there with the intent to stop it. He had been in an online argument with PSU Vanguard student newspaper staff and tagged them in a picture on his Instagram story before the incident. The post showed him behind the wheel of his car holding a baton with the message “I’m coming.”

Video from the incident, which police reviewed for evidence, shows Nealy drove toward the large crowd when protesters at the scene tried to stop the car before it got too close. Nealy immediately sprayed them with mace. Nealy then accelerated toward the crowd before coming to a stop. More protesters tried to engage him, reaching into his car, but he again deterred them with mace, then fled on foot. Nealy was later found in a campus cafeteria.

A witness at the protest that day called it “a matter of milliseconds” before Nealy would have hit someone in the crowd, had he not been intercepted by others at the scene.

Nealy claims he abandoned his car because he didn’t intend to hit anyone with it and he did not believe he could escape without doing so. 

According to campus police, Nealy drove to the crowd of protesters at PSU “where he turned onto the pedestrian breezeway on SW Hall between PSU Shattuck Hall and PSU Fariborz Maseeh Hall where he knew a large crowd of protesters to be.”

“Nealy told me that as he drove his vehicle into the pedestrian area the crowd began to attack him so he first maced someone at his car window before fleeing through the crowd spraying mace indiscriminately to effect an escape,” campus police officer Charles Evans wrote in an incident report.

Nealy’s car was heavily vandalized after he ran from the scene.

After detaining and speaking with Nealy, campus police placed him under a civil commitment hold and barred him from certain areas of campus. Campus police then had Nealy transported to Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) for a mental health evaluation per his request. 

Nealy told officers that he is bi-polar and had not taken his medicine, but he felt he was at his “baseline.” 

Nealy’s mother told a different story. She told police her son had been “spiraling for weeks” and that she and Nealy’s grandmother weren’t comfortable in his presence. Nealy’s mother said she previously filed for a restraining order against her son.

Despite video evidence and a confession from Nealy involving possible acts of menacing and assault, campus police officers decided not to bring the case to prosecutors.

"Portland State University police officers are necessarily entrusted with the discretion to make multiple and often complex decisions within the exercise of their duties, including decisions about the safety and well-being of individuals, and about when and how to exercise their arrest authority,” PSU Media Relations Manager Katy Swordfisk, told the Mercury. “PSU police are sworn officers, certified, and prepared with extensive and ongoing training, and guided by CPSO policy and applicable law."

PSU campus police policy on “Responding to Persons Affected by Mental Illness or in Crisis” does not indicate whether police should or should not give a case to the MCDA. 

Brianna Brown, a spokesperson for the DA’s Office, said police have discretion over whether to charge a person. Brown said MCDA “may not expect a report to be forwarded to [their] office” in the case of a civil commitment hold. “Law enforcement may not refer a case if the report is insufficient, but ultimately, that agency makes the determination as to whether or not a report is referred to our office,” Brown added.

Michael Calhour, a cook at PSU, was at the scene when Nealy ran into the cafeteria, where he was later interviewed by campus police. Calhour told them he was maced and that he was willing to press charges. The initial police report indicates that Calhour “seemed to be reacting to a chemical irritant as he kept blinking his eyes which appeared to be tearing.” 

After further reviewing footage, campus police believe Calhour was only peripherally exposed to mace. Others in the video were not identified by police. 

Calhour could not be reached for comment.

The May 2 incident followed ongoing demonstrations at the university that saw several activists stage an occupation-style protest at the campus library, which culminated in police raiding the library and arresting 12 people. In all, at least 30 people were arrested on PSU’s campus as a part of the protests against the war in Gaza.