A Navy veteran who wanted to ask officers why they weren't 'living up to their oath' says he was beaten and pepper-sprayed at a Portland protest

• Navy veteran Chris David, 53, said he was beaten and pepper-sprayed after he attended a protest for the first time in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday night.
• Federal officers have been seen in Portland without clear identification badges have been using force to arrest protesters and put them in unmarked vehicles. David told CNN he was going to ask them why they weren't "living up to their oath."
• After he was beaten and pepper-sprayed, David went to the hospital, and learned that his right hand had been broken in two places.
• "You hear people like Trump say it's just a bunch of wacko fringe people in liberal cities who are out there, but no way," he told the Washington Post. "We're all just normal people who think what's happening is wrong."

Navy veteran Chris David had never attended a protest, but felt he had to step in once he saw federal officers on the scene in his home city of Portland.

Clad in a Navy sweatshirt, with the hope that the officers would see him as one of them, he attempted to talk to them on Saturday night and ask why they weren't "living up to their oath", CNN reported. But he was pushed down, beaten with batons, and pepper-sprayed.

A video of the incident taken by Portland Tribune reporter Zane Sparling has been viewed more than 10 million times.

David said one of the officers had a weapon pointed right at his chest, and he was afraid he would be shot. "I'm relieved that I only got hit by batons and pepper spray," he told CNN.

But David said the pepper spray "felt like they dumped a gallon of burning gasoline on my head." He then walked away from the officers, flipping them off as went.

He couldn't see, and ran into more gas that made him "cough and retch," according to the Washington Post.
A street medic helped pull him out.

David then went to the hospital, where he found out that his hand had been broken in two places. He plans to have surgery later this week.

Many have commented on Sparling's Twitter video that David is a "hero", but he insists that all the protesters are "just like him."

"You hear people like Trump say it's just a bunch of wacko fringe people in liberal cities who are out there, but no way," he told the Post. "We're all just normal people who think what's happening is wrong."

Federal officers have been seen in Portland without clear identification badges have been using force to arrest protesters and put them in unmarked vehicles.

Spokespeople for the Portland Police Bureau and Customs and Border Protection both told CNN that their officers were not involved in the incident. The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service, which has deployed personnel in the city, didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on whether the officers seen in the video were theirs.