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Seattle 'Superhero' Nabbed in Pepper Spray Incident

Video shows woman battering him with purse

By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 10, 2011 6:36 PM CDT

(Newser) – Seattle's self-proclaimed superhero is under arrest for his role in a pepper spray scuffle among early morning clubgoers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. The alleged victims told police that Phoenix Jones—his real name is withheld pending charges—ran up to them on the street in the wee hours yesterday and sprayed them. But a spokesman for the masked man says that a video, available here, shows Jones breaking up a fight.

Police say the video simply shows Jones being chased away by clubgoers—one a woman who batters him repeatedly with her purse. Jones "has a history of injecting himself in these incidents," an officer wrote in his report. "Recently there have been reports of citizens being pepper sprayed by [him] and his group." Earlier this year, the masked avenger was beat up by thugs and threatened at gunpoint for trying to stop a fight.

This Feb. 18, 2011 file photo shows Seattle superhero Phoenix Jones during a patrol of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. (AP Photo/seattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo)

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Seattle 'Superhero' Nabbed in Pepper Spray Incident

Video shows woman battering him with purse

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