The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office has dropped its case against a man who at one point could have faced nearly six years in prison for taking a stranger’s eyeglasses during a scuffle at a downtown protest.

Videos of the argument March 29 led prosecutors to decide not to pursue any charges against activist Philip “Standard” Schaefer, known to police as an outspoken critic.

Schaefer and his supporters said he was unfairly targeted with robbery and other charges for trying to de-escalate a tense moment during the protest over the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Quanice Hayes.

“Mostly, I think the police are pushing these charges in order to suppress dissent,” Schaefer said. “The police are out to shut down protests.”

Police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said Schaefer’s arrest wasn’t done in retaliation.

“He was arrested solely because of his actions on March 29 in front of the Portland Building,” Simpson wrote in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Schaefer said he’s relieved that he’s no longer facing criminal charges, but it came at a financial cost: He had to post $25,500 in bail and hire Portland attorney Noah Horst defend him.

The arrest of Schaefer came as police and demonstrators have clashed for months – at protests over police use of force, the police contract, homelessness issues and other city policies and in massive gatherings in downtown after Donald Trump's election as president. On March 29, some protesters lay down in the street and blocked buses, causing police in riot gear to respond.

Police took Schaefer into custody four days after the demonstration over the death of Hayes, who police said was an armed robbery suspect and was shot after an officer saw Hayes move his hand to his waistband. A grand jury cleared the officer of wrongdoing.

Police arrested Schaefer on allegations of felony second-degree robbery, which could have led to a nearly six-year sentence if he had been convicted. Deputy District Attorney Haley Rayburn reviewed the case and pursued a felony third-degree robbery charge instead on April 3. By April 11, Rayburn downgraded the case to a single misdemeanor harassment charge. Then last week, Rayburn asked a judge to dismiss the case.

Robert Altomare – the named victim in the case -- told police he was trying to get into the Portland Building for a job interview at the city attorney’s office but three protesters blocked his way. Altomare said a woman in her 60s then started slapping his hands and arms before Schaefer yelled at him that he was fighting with an “old lady,” according to police reports.

That’s when a video taken by freelance journalist Mike Bivins started: It shows an argument between Altomare and the woman, and both of them appear as if they might be touching or pushing each other.

The video was tweeted from Bivins’ account on the day of the protest.

Brief altercation. Pushing and shoving. pic.twitter.com/XspLESodTz — Mike Bivins (@itsmikebivins) March 29, 2017

Schaefer is heard yelling: “Stop touching that woman!” Altomare pushes his chest against Schaefer’s and shouts in Schaefer’s face: “Maybe I should start touching you!”

In a separate video that prosecutors say came to them as new evidence and prompted them to dismiss the case, Altomare then appears to ball his fist just as protesters in the crowd grab him and a masked person puts Altomare in a chokehold.

It’s then that Bivins’ video shows Schaefer snatching Altomare’s glasses and speed-walking away, handing them off to a nearby security guard a few seconds later.

Altomare breaks free, runs after Schaefer, grabs the back of his collar and throws him into a wall, in the videos. An audible cracking can be heard. Schaefer said that was the sound of his back being injured.

Altomare declined comment for this story.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Kirsten Snowden said her office didn’t think it could disprove an argument that Schaefer could have made: that he was acting in self-defense or defense of others when he took the glasses.

The initial decision to charge Schaefer with third-degree robbery was in line with charges filed in purse-snatching and other similar cases, she said. Snowden likened taking eyeglasses off a person’s face to grabbing a purse off a woman walking down the street.

Schaefer said in an interview that he intervened because he thought Altomare would settle down if he couldn’t see.

Mathew dos Santos, legal director of the ACLU of Oregon, said police seemed to be looking for a reason to charge Schaefer and prosecutors appeared to be pressuring him to make a plea deal. Prosecutors should have realized that Schaefer hadn’t committed any crimes from video that was publicly available from the beginning -- days before Schaefer was arrested and charged.

Dos Santos noted that in the police report Altomare at first said he thought Schaefer actually was trying to help him by keeping his glasses safe after someone put him in a chokehold. The next day, after robbery Detective Darren Posey interviewed him, Altomare said he was willing to press charges against Schaefer.

Schaefer said he thought Altomare should have been charged with assault, and he filed an electronic complaint the morning after the incident, but police never got back to him.

Snowden said prosecutors don’t plan to charge Altomare with any crimes. He could have raised arguments that he was defending himself or his property, she said.

“I think there’s legitimate arguments ... on both sides,” Snowden said of Schaefer and Altomare.

Prosecutors also charged the person – Lucy Elizabeth Smith, 35 -- who they say put Altomare in a chokehold. But they dropped the allegations of strangulation and fourth-degree assault against Smith for the same reasons as the others – that she could have argued she was acting in defense of others.

-- Aimee Green