U.S. Navy veteran Dario Raschio was all smiles Saturday as he awaited a special honor from U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, who joined him at Portland Community College's Southeast Campus to present the 100-year-old with a handful of medals.
"I feel I'm no hero," said Raschio, dynamic and spry, before the event. "I don't accept it as being a hero. I accept it as being a part of my job."
Shortly after Wyden began speaking, though, protesters erupted in the back of the room, shouting "hands-up, don't shoot!" More than 100 pushed through the doors, banged on the windows from outside and hoisted signs.
Raschio and his daughter, Pam Brown of Portland, had a front-row seat to the spectacle. Raschio's smile faded.
Demonstrators across the country have used "don't shoot" and "hands up" as rallying cries following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, last fall. "I can't breathe" references the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died in July following a chokehold by a New York City police officer.
TweetME Please
