Witness in 1993 scuffle says Smith was defending himself
PORTLAND, Ore. – A witness to the 1993 altercation between then 20-year-old Jefferson Smith and an 18-year-old woman backs up the Portland mayoral candidate's claims that he was defending himself the night of the incident.
The scuffle between the woman and Smith, who was a University of Oregon student at the time, was put front and center again Tuesday after the woman's lawyer on Monday gave reporters copies of the Eugene police report from that night. In it the woman described to police how she was hit in the eye by Smith at the Oct. 17, 1993 party in Eugene.
"In the midst of him trying to defend himself, he popped her in the face, and it gave her a pretty good gash near her eye. But he didn't reach back and cold-cock her," said Garrett Kleen by phone Tuesday. Kleen, who lives in California, was listed in the police report given to KATU News by the victim's attorney.
He said the woman was swinging her arms at Smith.
The police report noted that the woman was 5 foot 3 and Smith was 6 foot 2.
Smith only described the hit as "knocking on a door" Tuesday during an OPB mayoral debate. In previous interviews, he said he couldn't quite remember what happened.
Another difference in the witness's account and what Smith told KATU’s Anna Canzano in a sit-down interview last week is how easily Smith could have de-escalated the situation.
Smith told Canzano he was backed up against a wall or couch with nowhere to go. But Kleen told KATU News Smith was near the front door and could have easily walked away.
"I wouldn't agree with that, no," Kleen said. "We were in a room – a living room. He wasn't backed up against a wall, I know that. It was close to the front door. He could have just left."
"I was seated in a couch and somebody was coming at me, and I tried to hold her off, and she yelled for me to stop doing that," Smith said in response to the question whether he was up against a wall and unable to walk away. "So in trying to shove her away, I clearly struck her and feel terrible about it."
Smith wrote a handwritten letter and dropped it off to the victim last week before holding a news conference about the incident. It said, "I felt sorry then. I feel sorry now. It was an accident."
But the victim's lawyer says it was not an accident.
"I recognize our memories are profoundly different, and I ask that you not just listen to me or just to her or the at least four or five other people that were there," Smith said.
Smith has said he is a different person today than he was 20 years ago. During Tuesday's debate, he said he's learned more discipline and takes vitamins and medications.
When asked by a KATU News reporter if he's ever had a problem with alcohol or anger management, Smith said his underage drinking was the problem that night.
Charlie Hales, Smith's opponent in the race to be the next mayor of Portland, told the reporter the incident is troubling and wants voters to decide what's important to them.
The assault is the latest in a string of incidents that have surfaced over the past few months involving Smith.
Last year, Smith was asked to leave a basketball game after punching an opponent and was ejected from a rec-league soccer match for pushing another player.
He has received seven speeding tickets since 1994, and the state has suspended his driver's license seven times.
I really don't care about this issue. I am pretty sure something happened, but probably somewhere in-between what he says and she says.
The thing that is really weird to me is how somebody can get their drivers license suspended 7times! What the heck do you have to keep doing over and over to make that happen??
I think there is something unstable about the women.
in 1973 he stole a candy bar
1993 are you f'ing kidding me?
I do not believe it...Smith has an excuse, a reason, for every infraction we've found out about...can't help but wonder how many more we don't know about... and I'd bet you they are out there just lurking, waiting to be tossed into the pile.  In the beginning of all this I was willing to to give Smith the benefit of the doubt....NOW..there is just too many of them - and not only in his misspent youth but in his everyday life in his adult hood. Â
I simply cannot believe his johnny-come-lately's lying for him....
This guy is kind of a loose cannon. This will be a tough election for him because he and his opponent are so similar ideologically. The choice boils down to crazy or not crazy. How does 7 speeding tickets = 7 suspended licenses? Unstable drunk girl attacks are not uncommon at college parties; blasting them in the face is. The appropriate response to a drunk girl attack is to firmly grasp her wrists and make eye contact with other party goers until someone comes to your aide.Â
That microphone... has blonde hair.
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 @negativerep HA!!
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Thank God we have other choices who are more qualified & more committed to serving the fine people of this city, like Tre Arrow....Portland's #1 mayoral candidate.
 @August100 You must be joking.  No one in their right mind thinks like you.
@August100 really?? a convicted felon that fought extradition for terrorisim charges ? You have got to be smoking too much of what you are trying to sell!!!
Pathetic witch hunt. I thought KATU had a little journalism left in you. Not any more. a bitch slap to a drunk from 20 years ago?Â
Let's avoid the hideous phrase "B S", as used by "real life" above. It's a term from the ugly world of street prostitution that modern coarseness, cowardice, and contempt for women has somehow allowed to be used in public.Â
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Now, if you grew up in such a situation, seeing "B's" get B-slapped by trash all day, then that's truly awful. Those poor souls should have ventilated their tormentors. Leave that ugliness in the gutter where it belongs.
 @real life its the kind of journalism you get when the koch brothers pay for everything
And go read the story that KOIN has on this. Â It's FAR more accurate and clear. Â Shame on you KATU.
Why is no one skeptical of this woman who wants to remain anonymous, but she's making statements through her lawyer to the media and allowing the lawyer to disclose the police report to the media long after this story should have died? Â What is she getting out of this? Â She sounds either unstable or like she's being paid, or both.
@Kphrog In previous articles that the media has seen fit to run I have asked the same question, if this is such an important issue let her step forward rather than hiding behind her cheap mouth piece, aka attorney. Who after 20 years as a "victim" on a simple assault needs an attorney, perhaps she has a questionable background that also needs enquiry along with some of the media folks.
There's something inherently wrong with a 6'2" man that hits a woman, period. Of course Portland voters elected a gay pedophile so why not Smith. He certainly fits the mold of freaks the city's voters love to elect. An occasional bout of fisticuffs, groin punching, or woman beating at city hall will liven up the meetings, eh?
 @I812 So if a woman come after you are you going to just let her hit you and you do nothing? You're not going to defend yourself? I really find that hard to believe. As for me, I'm going to do whatever I have to do to defend myself.
 @I812 You're referring to incidents that have been blown way out of proportion and all were in self-defense.  I'd like to see what you'd do in the same situations.
@I812 Your comment make one believe that you are an airhead and perhaps a pedo yourself
Gee a witness from an incident 20 years ago says Smith was defending himself,,,,,anyone remember incidents from 20 yrs ago like a fight at a party, this tells me that this must have been a remarkable incident. It was disposed of years ago.........The media is bringing up something a 20 year old did at a university off campus party 20 year ago....I call BS......Does the media have something to gain? Remember folks the media protects its own interests NOT yours..........Ever check the backgrounds of those that appear on the tube in your home everyday and influance your's and your childrens lives by their comments.
@FreerideNOT Your comment make one believe that you are an airhead and perhaps a pedo yourself
@I812 Ah you can read, congratulations now you see yourself in the mirror as an airhead and possibly a pedo. Adams is NOT a pedo unless of course you can prove something the DA did not want to take to court. Once Adams leaves office you had better watch your comments, you could end up on the losing side in a civil case.
A 6'4" man does not "defend himslf" by punching a 5'3" woman with a closed fist, causing injuries sufficient to require sutures. He is a bully and a punk.
Willamette Week, KATU, KGW, KOIN and KPTV all have it out for Jefferson Smith. I don't really care what happened 20 years ago because none of the stories are the same. Everyone even their GM's make mistakes and when we were young those mistakes can and will come back to haunt you. I can't vote for Mr. Hales as he was a do nothing when he was at the city council before.  If you had money he would help you but if you were just Joe/Jane Average, he would not give you the time of day. I would like to know why Mr. Hales is being so damn quiet. Did set this in motion?
You may not care about what happened 20 years ago, but remember he's had lots of issues since then, including being ejected from a rec game of basketball just last year for punching an opponent. Seems to be a history of not controlling himself.
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PSÂ - I have no dog in this fight, as I don't live in Portland, but choosing this man doesn't seem wise.
 @OSUx2 He was defending himself in that game.  Know the whole story.
@Kphrog I'm sure that was the case in the soccer match as well. Plus I'm sure he somehow was defending himself in the speeding tickets & license revokations. Doesn't seem to me like the kind of person you want running a city, one who obviously doesn't make overly wise decisions, or at least poor reactionary decisions.
The stuff from college does not bother me, it is the recent stuff that makes me worry.
 @swede760 Driver's license suspended SEVEN TIMES???! This repeat offender is supposed to be someone we can trust and allow to lead in governing us? That's just crazy. I could do better than that! I have never had my license suspended...ever.
If we're not going to concern ourselves with Obama's dope and cocaine use in his college days, then I can't concern myself with this.
 @last boyscout Hell, yeah! GWB was the coke-monkey in chief for 8 years, and look what a great job he did! LOL
@badcat @last boyscout I'll take fifty years of GW over what this Obammer idiot in charge has done in four.
 @real life  @badcat  @last you do know the economy crashed under GW right? Nothing has changed because congress and the senate are the same guys running everything.
 @real life  @badcat  @last Here here!!!Â
Portland's #1 mayoral candidate Tre Arrow would NEVER bring up people's past and use it against them; Tre Arrow is all about moving forward....
 @August100 Arrows only go one direction ... even if they're pointed down a rabbit hole or up your ass ... or lit on fire and aimed at a barn. It's all good.
I hope those reporters in the picture are careful poking those mics so close to Jefferson. He may feel he is being attacked and have to punch the reporter in the face, in self-defense, of course.Â
maybe he should apply to the portland police bureau
Poor Jefferson, he was being attacked by a 100 pound girl and he had to punch her in the head to protect himself. His life was in danger LoL If that were the real story, then the police report would have indicated that it was self-defense, and charged the other party with assault. However, Jefferson avoided a conviction with a civil compromise and paid for her bills. It sounds like Jefferson has a quick temper and a difficulty telling the truth or remembering details. Or else he's like Jerry Sandusky telling everyone he is really innocent, it's just a huge conspiracy to take him down and he is really the poor victim in this "witchhunt". Maybe he'll sneak over to the victim's house after dark and leave her another note.Â
 @The Voice of Reason The Voice of Reason?  More like the Voice of Misdirection.  You're seriously comparing an incident of self-defense against an unstable, drunk girl to raping little boys?  BTW, there were WITNESSES who have backed Jefferson up.  And he didn't sneak anywhere, he went in broad daylight, WITH a witness, to leave a note, probably to warn this woman that this was being brought up and he was going to have to address it.  It was the honorable thing to do.
 @Kphrog  @The Voice of Reason Honorable? Not necessarily. More like CYA thing to do and "damage-control". Pathetic.
Who care what happened almost 20 years ago? Why is this relevant? KATU why are you making a mountain out of a mole hill?
 @shek069 Are you kidding? That's how they make "news"!! Up next, some hippie says that a restaurant kicked him out for smelling like a Afghan's armpit....
gov Straub was drove around by the state police when he was elected gov. Why because his license was suspended for drunk driving..True check the facts..This is nothing but a witch hunt by weiner and his gang..KATU STICK TO THE REAL NEWS.........DO YOUR JOB..........
I wonder how much we could dig up on Hale's frat party days? Or for that matter, why don't Erica Nochlin, Anna Canzano, Steve Benham, and the rest of the KATU staff spill the beans on what they did in college?
This doesn't bother me near as much as his driving record. This is just a, "he said - she said", and unless you were there, you don't really know what transpired. However, his driving record tells me that he has no respect for the law.
 @R. Gess Smith I agree.... 7 tickets is a bit high for 18 years, but 7 suspensions is more than a little troubling.
 @Peregrine  @R. Gess Smith Dont hire him for a driver then
 @Peregrine  @R. Gess Smith His driving record shows his lack of self-regard.  If you pay attention, some of those suspensions were because he didn't have money to pay his fines because he had foregone a salary.  Creating and building an organization dedicated to making Oregon and the world a better place.  How much of that have you done yourselves?