Officer Kruger's Interest in Nazis Confirmed by Another Acquaintance
As reported in PPR #31, Portland Police Sergeant Mark Kruger (#28044) has had a
penchant
for Nazi paraphernalia and was accused by an old friend of yelling racist and homophobic slurs at
people. After Kruger was
named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed against the City of Portland over anti-war protests last
March,
an old acquaintance of his, Robert Williams, contacted the plaintiff's attorney, Alan Graf. Williams
says he, Robert Seaver (formerly Seaburg), and Kruger listened to Hitler speeches while driving
around town in the 1980s. Kruger admits that he wore Nazi uniforms, but he says only as a history
buff. He denies ever engaging in racist activities or holding Nazi beliefs.
Now Seaver has spoken up against Kruger, confirming Williams' allegations, as reported in the Willamette Week's February 11 issue. According to Seaver, as teens, he and Kruger spray- painted Nazi graffiti such as "Heil Hitler" and "SS Rules" on Rocky Butte, videotaping their spray- painting activities on video. Some of the graffiti still exists.
Seaver also told Willamette Week (WW) he doesn't think Kruger's views have changed much: "I think Mark is somebody who is very entrenched right now. But I would hope that someday he would maybe reconnect with humanity and understand that the things I've seen and helped him do were very wrong." Seaver says that in 1999, while with the Portland Police Bureau, Kruger built a shrine on Rocky Butte called "The Ehrenbaum," or the Honor Tree, which honored five Nazi soldiers.
The WW article reported on other statements by Seaver in an affidavit relating to Kruger's
involvement in other incidents in Portland:
According to Seaver, Kruger laughed about pepper-spraying Channel 12 camerawoman Beth English point-blank in the face in August 2002, sending her to the hospital, saying he would probably never be identified. Seaver claims Kruger planned to order a copy of the March, 2003 Oregonian photo showing Kruger grabbing a young female protester by the face so he could frame it. Seaver also says Kruger had him post a response to a picture on Portland Indymedia of Kruger pepper- spraying a young female protester as she shrieked in terror, after which Kruger appeared to laugh about it with a fellow officer: "Never Question Authority!"
These disturbing allegations need to be investigated. For more information on the lawsuit contact the NW Constitutional Rights Center at 503-241-0260.
Note: Seaver was "let go" from the District Attorney's office as a clerk after his past was
discovered.*
*Updated note 10/19/09: In October, 2009, Seaver sent us the following clarification by email:
"This statement is incorrect. Although the DA's Office would have loved to
have fired me, I had not done anything criminal and I did not lie to them.
There was nothing they could have fired me over in those circumstances. At
the time, I decided to resign voluntarily because of the negative press that
I was bringing on the DA's Office. I concluded that it was selfish for me to
try and remain there, when I really should have never applied to the DA's
Office in the first place, given my background."
According to media reports, Seaver's background included not only the white supremacist activities
but also planning to help spring convicted killer Diane Downs from jail, though he later testified
against her.