Prosecutors have decided not to file charges against a Vancouver man accused of following a group from a Patriot Prayer event to an east Vancouver sports bar, where a confrontation in the parking lot ended with him striking a man with his vehicle.
Court records filed Dec. 11 in Clark County Superior Court, show Charles R. Holliday-Smith, 30, was exonerated, pending further investigation. His bail of $100,000, which had already been posted, was also exonerated.
No charges were officially filed against Holliday-Smith, who’s also known as Robbie Smith, who had been accused of first-degree assault and hit-and-run resulting in injury.
Holliday-Smith’s defense attorney, Jon McMullen, maintained from the onset of the case that his client had not attended the Sept. 5 event in downtown Vancouver nor followed the group to the bar. McMullen said Holliday-Smith had gone to the bar to have a beer with a friend after work.
On Monday, McMullen said a significant amount of evidence had come in — and was reviewed by counsel — since Holliday-Smith made his first court appearance in the case.
The alleged victim, identified as 38-year-old Shane Moon, was hospitalized with head injuries. Updates posted on a GoFundMe page state he was released from the hospital a few days later.
The incident occurred at about 7 p.m. Sept. 5 in the parking lot of Charlie’s Sports Bar & Grill, 3315 N.E. 112th Ave.
Moon had attended an event earlier that day at Esther Short Park for Aaron “Jay” Danielson, the man fatally shot a week earlier in downtown Portland after a rally in support of President Donald Trump, according to social media posts.
Moon and some friends claimed Holliday-Smith followed them to the bar from the park. When Holliday-Smith arrived at the bar, they said he began recording the group, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
The group said they asked him to stop, because they were uncomfortable. They said they thought he may be associated with antifa and trying to identify and “dox” them, the affidavit says. “Doxxing” is the publishing of someone’s personal information online with malicious intent.
McMullen said Holliday-Smith is not a member of antifa, and to his knowledge, is not affiliated with any activist group.
The bar’s security detail reportedly contacted Holliday-Smith, who stopped recording and left.
Moon and the group followed him outside and asked that he delete his photos and video. The two parties then got into a verbal altercation, the affidavit says.
Neither police nor court records said why Holliday-Smith was recording Moon and his friends.
Moon reportedly told Holliday-Smith that he could take photos of him, as well, and started to do so. Holliday-Smith then got into his vehicle, started it and accelerated toward Moon, striking him. Moon was thrown into the air and landed on the pavement, according to the court document. Holliday-Smith sped away from the parking lot.
He turned himself into police on Sept. 7.
The GoFundMe page for Moon made no mention of the confrontation or whether he is affiliated with any activist group, though several donors left comments describing him as a “patriot” and criticizing antifa. Among the donors on the page are Proud Boys Western Australia and Gavin McInnes, founder of the Proud Boys.
