Authorities said they planned to meet Tuesday afternoon with the families of three men stabbed during a Lemon Island brawl to explain why the knife-wielding man wasn't charged with a crime.

A Multnomah County grand jury found that Brandon Richard Cullen of Vancouver acted in self-defense when he stabbed the men during the July 4 fight at a large party on the small island at the western tip of the much larger Government Island.

But one family member has already made clear that the decision not to file charges doesn't sit well with her.

A woman saying she is the sister of one of the victims uploaded a petition to change.org -- along with graphic photos -- asking that authorities charge Cullen, claiming he was the aggressor in the fight and is escaping justice.

By Tuesday afternoon, the petition had 2,000 online signatures and comments.

But Deputy District Attorney Christine Mascal, who was to meet with the victims' families to go over the case, said a grand jury found Cullen was retreating during the fight. The panel, after hearing testimony from the involved parties, said the three men Cullen stabbed not only weren't relenting, but they were coming after Cullen.

One of the men stabbed had started the fight, testifying to the grand jury that he punched Cullen in the face three times, breaking his nose, Mascal said.

The men then chased Cullen, who took out a knife and swung it at his pursuers. One was stabbed in the neck, hitting his jugular vein, Mascal said. Another was stabbed in the abdomen. Cullen again ran off, but a third man chased and tackled him. Cullen swung his knife to defend himself, and the man was stabbed in the gut, Mascal said.



The fight had begun over a woman. Cullen's ex-girlfriend was at the party. They had broken up in November, and she threw a drink in his face on the party dance floor, Mascal said, prompting her new boyfriend to strike Cullen.

The sheriff's office said nearly 1,000 people, many of them drunk, wound up attending the Independence Day celebration.

The enormous party was hosted by 360drinks, whose website serves as a guide to happy hours in Portland and Vancouver. The organization brought a DJ, stage and lights and set up a massive dance floor. Everything was run on generators.

Public defender Stephanie Pollan said her client was trying to defend himself after a group of people he didn't know attacked him.



She does not know exactly what sparked the confrontation but said the girlfriend might have said something alleging abuse to her new boyfriend, which set him off on Cullen. Her client has no criminal history, she said.



In addition to the broken nose, Cullen was punched in the eye to the point where it was swollen shut, she said. She said Cullen had warned the men that he had a knife when they chased him.



"There's a lot of misinformation and blatant untruths out there regarding this incident," she said. "I think if people had the full picture of what happened that day, their reaction would be different."

She added that she understands the high-profile nature of the incident and that the photos of the injuries sustained by the others can inflame emotions.

But she pointed to the grand jury and its decision not to bring charges against Cullen.

"A disinterested group of citizens who actually did get the full picture as far as what happened was able to see past that," she said.

-- Tom Hallman Jr.

Helen Jung and Maxine Bernstein contributed to this story.