Ashland Police Chief Tighe O'Meara arrested former City Councilor Eric Navickas during a council meeting last week, moments after Navickas allegedly objected to the chief's claim that Navickas' earlier public comments were "racist."
The Oregonian reports Navickas had spoken at the council meeting to denounce a proposal that would allow police to ban people from specially designated parts of the city if they've been charged, but not convicted, with certain violations -- a measure he characterized as "a draconian infringement of civil rights."
Under Ashland law, the city attorney's office can ask the municipal court to bar people from entering certain areas of the city if they’ve been convicted three or more times on certain charges, O'Meara said. Under the proposed change to the ordinance, police officers would be able to ask the court to ban a person from those zones if they’ve been charged three or more times -- not necessarily convicted.
In his comments, Navickas appeared to ask councilors to consider how the ordinance might be abused.
Minutes later, Navickas and O'Meara were leaving the council chambers -- the chief trailing behind -- when O'Meara told him the comment had been racist. Once in the lobby, just outside the chamber doors, Navickas turned and shoved the chief with both hands, accusing him of calling him a racist, O'Meara said. The chief then arrested Navickas, with help from a deputy chief who was nearby.
The scuffle could be heard in the chambers, interrupting the meeting, footage of the meeting shows.
Navickas could not be reached for comment. He served on the city council for one term from 2006 to 2010. He was an unsuccessful candidate for council in the 2024 election.
