No charges were filed against a Battle Ground man who was arrested Monday after police say he displayed a replica firearm from a pickup as it drove by peaceful demonstrators in downtown Portland.
Sergey E. Antonov, 20, was set to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Multnomah County Circuit Court on suspicion of second-degree disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. However, the charge was not filed at that time, and he was released on his own recognizance, court records show.
The incident occurred shortly before 12:30 p.m., when a person flagged down police at the Terry Schrunk Plaza to report that the passenger in a pickup displayed a handgun as the truck drove by, according to a news release from the Portland Police Bureau.
Demonstrators were gathered to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration, which suspends entry of all refugees to the U.S. and blocks immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Police detained the pickup’s driver and passenger, and determined the gun displayed was a replica firearm. They also found an unloaded AR-15-style rifle in the vehicle that belonged to the driver, but police said there was no evidence the rifle was displayed to demonstrators. The driver was released, but Antonov was arrested.
Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Haley Rayburn said in a phone interview that after reviewing the police reports, prosecutors decided not to proceed with criminal charges at this time. She said there were elements missing needed to prove the charges referred by police.
Rayburn cited a quote from a police report in which the reporting person said they were “shocked and uneasy” about seeing the replica firearm but “did not fear for their life.”
Antonov told The Columbian that it was a coincidence he happened upon the protesters, because he had been displaying the firearm prior to the encounter.
He declined to say why he was displaying the firearm but said he loves Trump and is not against immigrants.
