Once Again – And Perhaps For All – on the Neo-Fascist Chopping Block: Tusitala “Tiny” Toese

Remember that whole thing about the Proud Boys starting a brawl at their rally in Portland last summer that involved tipping over a van? That might have been the last straw for Tiny. Might. It’s amazing how many chances this clown has had however.

Tusitala “Tiny” Toese has been given several allowances to engage in assault and violence on behalf of neo-fascist groups like Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys with little accountability, even with his past convictions and probations that he would ultimately violate with no punishment. Since Dec. 29 however, he is currently in custody on a Multnomah County, Oregon indictment stemming from his actions at the Aug. 22 rally where he attacked reporters and activists as well as helped fellow Proud Boys turn over a van that they saw as a vehicle owned by antifascists. According to Toese, 25, was first jailed in Clark County, Washington but was transferred Jan. 5 to the Thurston County, Washington  Jail, where he remains in custody until he can be extradited to Multnomah County. Ironically, Jan. 5 was a day before the year anniversary of when he stormed the Washington State Governor’s mansion with right wing activists three weeks after being released from jail to serve probation that his mere presence at the mansion was violating, assaulting security officials in the process.

Toese was arrested on a secret warrant, which prevents a suspect from knowing there is a warrant out for their arrest if there is a chance they would flee, which Toese has done in the past. A judge signed off on the warrant on December 16, and while the indictment has yet to be publicly unsealed, a public jail listing notes that he has been charged with three counts of assault in the second degree, two counts of assault in the third degree, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of riot, and two counts of criminal mischief. The second degree assault charges carry a five-year maximum sentence. According to reporter Shane Kavanaugh, two others have also been arrested for their participation in the Aug. 22 assaults.

On that day, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced that the police would have a hands-off policy when it comes to protecting Proud Boys and other right wing activists from antifa as they attempted to rally in the town’s waterfront and as a result antifa took over that rally location, and the right wing rally was held miles away in the parking lot of an abandoned Kmart.

Trouble began when a counter-protest at the parking lot manifested and those participating, including reporters were attacked often by rally participants shooting paintballs at them. In one video, Toese was seen holding what looks to be a paintball rifle as he rode in the back of a pickup with San Francisco Proud Boy Philip Anderson, who once had his teeth knocked out at a rally that prior to he declared that rallygoers “will be kicking the living shit out of anyone that stands in our way.”

At one point, a rented medical vehicle that was in the parking lot was reportedly attacked by Toese and other Proud Boys causing the driver to crash as he tried to back up. He was pulled out of the van and assaulted and later Proud Boys are seen in videos turning the van over.

Prior to the attack on the van, Toese attempted to chase down a group that quickly responded by spraying an unknown white substance at him causing him to retreat and later tearily denouncing the police and Mayor Wheeler for not protecting them. “To all those cops out there at the moment, you put that, fucking duty down and stand down because of the orders from a tyrant?” he said referring to Wheeler. “You’re a disgrace to that fucking patch! Throw it down and fucking walk out. Because we’re sick and tired and I know days from now I might be arrested.”

Toese, who is Samoan, has engaged in racist, misogynistic anti-LGBTQ and anti-Semitic activity over the past four years, including defending brutal Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and openly calling for a Holocaust against Jews when he was told it didn’t happen. He has been a part of a number of altercations with antifascists who oppose him and his groups and although he has been arrested for a few of them, law enforcement had initially been hesitant to arrest and charge him and later arrest him when he was violating the conditions of his probation.

In September Toese, in a incident that mirrored the Kyle Rittenhouse case was chasing after a retreating group of antifascists at an anti-mask rally in Olympia, Washington when he was shot in the leg [https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvzezv/proud-boy-tiny-toese-shot-while-chasing-antifascists-as-olympia-fears-more-violence]. One of the antifascists has been arrested, charged with the shooting and is currently awaiting trial.