Seven men from Clark County, Oregon, are facing multiple charges after setting off large, illegal fireworks while also yelling slurs at a Black family over the holiday weekend.
According to KOIN, the incident occurred at an Oregon beach near the Inn at Spanish Head when officers arrived only to be surrounded by “about ten people who began taunting and challenging the officers,” according to the report. The group was apparently upset that the officers began seizing their illegal fireworks, according to a Facebook post by the Lincoln City Police Department.
As more officers arrived at the scene, they also discovered that the same group of people was also tormenting a Black family staying at the resort, hurling racial slurs and making Nazi salutes. Officers came between the group of men and the Black family, which allowed the family to get safely back to their room.
Even as officers tried to clear a way for the Black family, according to the Facebook post, the group, which police described as “confrontational and highly intoxicated,” continued to taunt the officers, challenging them to fight, while others yet began to shoot off “multiple large illegal aerial fireworks in front of the officers.”
Gennadiy Kachankov, 30, Antoliy Kachankov, 28, Andrey Zaytsev, 28, Oleg Saranchuk, 45, Ruslan Tkachenko, 22—all of Clark County Washington—were charged with riot, interfering with police, disorderly conduct, harassment, possession of illegal fireworks, and offensive littering, according to the Facebook post. Yuriy Kachankov, 30, was also was slapped with the above charges and a charge for resisting arrest.
The men were all taken to the Lincoln City Police Department. They were released on July 5 after being issued criminal citations, the police department said, citing coronavirus policies at the county jail. However, one other man who refused to identify himself and who had no ID was taken and booked at the Lincoln County Jail for fingerprint identification. That man is also facing the same charges as the others.