When Micah Fletcher stepped in front of the man who hurled racist threats at two teenage girls aboard a MAX train in May, it wasn't the first time that he tried to stop the now accused killer from lashing out.

Weeks before, Fletcher had intervened in a different confrontation involving Jeremy Christian, The Oregonian/OregonLive has learned.

Newly surfaced video shows that Fletcher encountered Christian during an April rally and march that replaced the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade and tried to calm the nerves of demonstrators during at least two tense exchanges.

Fletcher said this week that he had never seen Christian before the rally and didn't recognize him on the MAX until Christian was just inches away.

Fletcher survived the train attack where Christian is accused of stabbing him and two other Good Samaritans who went up to Christian as he yelled anti-Muslim epithets at the girls, including one wearing a hijab.

The details of the first encounter come as Fletcher has made some of his first public appearances since the horrific episode on the MAX. He recently won a seat on his local neighborhood association and talked at a news conference at Portland State University.

A short time later The Oregonian/OregonLive received an anonymous email that included screen shots from a video documenting the initial encounter between the two men, along with claims that Fletcher was a member of Rose City Antifa, a prominent antifascist group in Portland, who had reason to "fight" Christian because of their prior meeting.

The Oregonian/OregonLive later found the video online. In an exclusive interview, Fletcher acknowledged for the first time that he and Christian had previously crossed paths. But he said that the realization came only seconds before the man on the MAX plunged a knife into his throat and fatally stabbed Ricky Best and Taliesin Namkai-Meche.

"It wasn't until I was between him and those little girls that I was close enough to think, 'Oh shit, it's that guy,'" Fletcher said. "All I saw was two little girls getting attacked."

Fletcher also said that he did not have any affiliation with antifascists or other activist groups in Portland. "Politics is the entire problem," he said. "I do what I do because I care about people."

A Rose City Antifa spokesperson said in an email statement that Fletcher was not a member of the loosely-based organization.

The Portland Police Bureau declined to comment on whether it knew of the prior interaction between Fletcher and Christian.

A student at Portland State, Fletcher has attended marches against police use of force and other issues, he said. He's also won a citywide poetry slam competition for a poem that denounced prejudice faced by Muslims.

But Fletcher said his decision to attend the April 29 rally was more personal than political. A lifelong Montavilla resident, he had attended the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade since he was a child. Fletcher, who studies percussion, had even marched in the parade as a member of the Madison High School drum line, he said.

He became upset when organizers suddenly announced that they would cancel this year's parade due to the potential for violent clashes between conflicting political protesters. Patriot Prayer, a conservative group that counts fervent Donald Trump supporters among its ranks, then decided that it would hold a "March for Free Speech" in place of the parade.

Other activists quickly planned a counter-demonstration, setting the stage for confrontation.

"So I'm thinking to myself, 'This is going to be a mess,'" Fletcher said. "And it's literally going to be right next door to my house."

Fletcher decided he would attend the rallies in a playful fashion. He donned a multi-colored jester hat, white sunglasses and red nose. He grabbed a handful of juggling balls. Fletcher then showed up to the rally alone and not as part of any group, he said.

"I was there trying to make things happier," he said.

At Montavilla Park, Patriot Prayer supporters and counter-protesters, including black-clad antifa, held dueling rallies. Police in riot gear monitored the groups as they began to march on separate sides of 82nd Avenue.

One of the more problematic participants at the event was Christian. He arrived at Montavilla Park wearing an American flag like a cape and carrying a baseball bat, which police confiscated. Throughout the rallies, he hurled racist slurs at opponents and gave the Nazi salute.

The spectacle Christian created was hard to ignore, said Fletcher, who added that he kept his distance from the caped agitator for most of the event.

But the two men's paths would eventually cross in the parking lot of a Wendy's on Northeast Everett and 82nd Avenue, according to video published by Matthew "Deme" Cooper, who frequently documents protests in Portland.

The video shows Christian repeatedly shouting a racial slur at a counter-demonstrator during a heated confrontation, prompting outcries from members of both groups who tell Christian that such language is unacceptable.

Soon after, a different argument breaks out between Trump supporters and antifascist activists over the use of the n-word by white people. That's when a costumed Fletcher, for the first time, wanders into the video frame.

"Why does it always got to be a battle with you people?" he says. "Everybody wants to fight and skirmish."

The voice of a demonstrator off-screen then calls to Fletcher: "I want to see some juggling."

Fletcher starts to toss the balls into the air, breaking the tension.

But moments later, Christian and the counter-demonstrator he yelled at are shouting at one another for a second time. Fletcher then steps in between the two men to perform his act.

In the video, Fletcher is never seen exchanging words with Christian. Nor does Christian appear to be provoked or angered by Fletcher's act.

Christian eventually walks away, but not before he's heard claiming that he is a "nihilist" and worshiper of Odin, a Norse god, who hates Christians, Muslims and Jews.

"I started juggling and dancing," Fletcher recalled. "And it seemed to defuse the situation."

Four weeks later it would be a different story.

Gregory Scholl, a lawyer for Christian, did not respond to a request for comment.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh

skavanaugh@oregonian.com

503-294-7632 II @shanedkavanaugh