During the ICE protest outside the Eugene Federal Building on Jan. 30, two individuals were arrested and charged with second-degree theft in what one defendant says was an effort to keep people safe.
Timothy Lewis, 69, and Benjamin Butler, 35, were arrested by Eugene Police Department officers at 9:39 pm Friday after an officer observed the two unloading City of Eugene Public Works street barricades from a truck near Oak Street and East Sixth Alley.
Lewis says he was responding to a friend’s call about pedestrians nearly being struck by vehicles on Sixth and Seventh avenues as protesters fled tear gas that had been deployed outside the Federal Building. The friend reported drivers were swerving and pedestrians were stumbling into traffic as tear gas obscured visibility…