Six Christians were hit with a cleaning agent while preaching outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Oregon.
Christian News Network reports a group from the Biblical Church Evangelism Conference organized the pro-life outreach at the Portland Planned Parenthood clinic. About 20 men and women stood outside the abortion facility to preach the gospel. When one man entered the clinic, he threw Comet at several members of the group.
Pastor Chuck O’Neal, of Beaverton Grace Bible Church said, “Somewhere he got ahold of a very large canister of Comet and then he came around the building and went to one of our ladies and pronounced her ‘scum’ and doused her with this can of Comet head to toe. He continued down the line… and he said, ‘And you, and you, and you,’ pronouncing them all scum and shaking out Comet on each one.”
“I approached the man, and he proceeded to douse me with the Comet as well, getting it in my eyes and on my clothes. I was warning him that this was assault… and calling upon him to stop and to repent and turn to Christ.”
O’Neal said that the man was not arrested by a nearby officer on duty, but simply asked to walk away from the pro-life group. The policeman spoke to the man for a few minutes and released him.
Tony Miano, a former deputy sheriff in the group said he believes the officer did not handle the situation appropriately.
“There were several people doused in this caustic cleanser, people complaining about their eyes burning, and he didn’t stop to see if anyone needed aid. He did nothing to check on the condition of the victims, but he did everything to accommodate the man who viciously, angrily assaulted six Christians peacefully exercising their right to free speech and exercising their deeply held religious beliefs,” Miano said.
“If he was thinking as a civil servant, if he was thinking as one who is charged with protecting life and property, he would have secured that suspect so that he couldn’t hurt anyone else, and then he would have checked on the condition of those who had been assaulted, and then he would have conducted a thorough investigation.”
Publication date: August 14, 2015