Updated at 3:34 p.m.

A Clark County District Court judge Wednesday dismissed charges against a Portland man who was detained and released by police in September 2017 after driving through a crowd opposing a right-wing group’s rally in downtown Vancouver.

Billy Wilson, 33, was charged in February 2018 with reckless driving and reckless endangering in February 2018, five months after witnesses said he nearly hit counter-protesters gathered in the street after a Patriot Prayer demonstration. The incident invoked comparisons to a month before when a woman was killed and 19 others were injured in Charlottesville, Virginia, when a man drove his car through a crowd protesting a white nationalist rally.

Wilson was detained and released from the scene. Vancouver police said in 2017 that officers didn’t have enough evidence of a crime to arrest him. The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office later reviewed the case and pursued charges.

The reckless endangerment charges were dismissed in July and the remaining charges on Wednesday, said D. Angus Lee, Wilson’s attorney. He said evidence showed Wilson was trying to leave the area in his black Chevy pickup when he was surrounded by counter-protesters and both he and the truck were pelted with rocks and bottles.

The attorney said police found Wilson “acted as any reasonable, prudent person would,” in trying to leave the area, that he didn’t hit anyone and the pickup sustained about $5,000 in damages.

“He did nothing wrong,” Lee said. “It was a totally garbage case, and that’s why I believe it was dismissed.”

James Smith, the Clark County prosecutor in the case, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. He wrote in the motion and order for dismissing the case that it was “due to the interest of justice and the complaining witness’ desire not to testify.”

The 2017 altercation came after two Patriot Prayer rallies, one in Vancouver and another in downtown Portland, that both drew counter-protests. Two people were arrested in Vancouver in incidents unrelated to the pickup, and seven people were arrested in Portland.

Videos from the September 2017 altercation show Wilson reversed his black Chevy pickup adorned with American flags and a Confederate sticker through the crowd of counter-protesters near the Vancouver Convention Center while strains of the song “Dixie” played from the truck’s horn. He later drove forward through the crowd walking in the middle of Columbia Street, went through a red light at an intersection nearby and then stopped when a car quickly veered in front of the truck.

Vancouver police arrived, put Wilson in handcuffs, and he was later released. Police said no one was injured.

Lee told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Wilson honked his horn to alert anyone around that he was backing up the truck.

According to police reports, Wilson told Vancouver officers he made a wrong turn that put him in the counter-protestors’ path and sped away to stop them from damaging his truck. He said he wasn’t trying to hit anyone and feared for his safety. Witnesses told police that Wilson appeared to be intentionally trying to rile up the crowd and endanger pedestrians, the reports said.

The crowd numbered a few dozen people, including anti-fascist protesters and reporters.

After being released from police custody, Wilson later appeared in a video posted on Facebook in which he stood atop his pickup with his arms outstretched holding two American flags and said, “No jail for this proud USA patriot.”

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 | @EvertonBailey

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