#Washington sheriff defends arrest of protester who says he was ‘abducted’

Authorities in Spokane, Washington are defending the controversial arrest of a protester— citing his social media posts as part of their justification.

Jeremy Logan, 40, a local political activist, claimed in a Huffington Post piece that he was “abducted” as he walked to a yet-to-begin protest against police brutality in Spokane at the end of August.

The plainclothes officers refused to identify themselves as he was swept away in an unmarked vehicle, according to Logan, who felt the arrest was an intimidation tactic.

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, whose office facilitated the arrest, said Logan had a seven-year-old warrant out for his arrest after he failed to appear at a financial hearing on a drug charge, according to the Spokesman-Review.

Knezovich on Tuesday said that, while the arrest was spurred by the warrant, his office had been tracking his social media accounts since June and that Logan had allegedly been making “escalating” threats against law enforcement.

“It’s a response to the fact that you have an individual with a warrant, and we identified he had a warrant,” Knezovich said, adding “he was escalating in his rhetoric, and we removed him from the street.”

Logan at one point wrote on Facebook that he wanted to “take these pigs heads off with a hand saw,” according to the paper.

Knezovich insisted he wasn’t targeting Logan because of his left-leaning beliefs, as Logan claimed.

“I’m an equal opportunity sheriff, when it comes to people who want to hurt my community, our community,” Knezovich went on during a Tuesday news conference. “I will go after you no matter what your political leanings are.”

It was not immediately clear why the arrest was carried out by plainclothes officers in an unmarked car.

Logan told the Spokesman-Review that Knezovich and law enforcement were only acting to protect the ruling class.

“If there’s any movement of people, it’s a movement by people that want health care, housing as a human right,” Logan said. “These basic needs for somebody to have a proper and dignified life, that’s what people are fighting for.”