Seattle Superhero "Phoenix Jones" Allegedly Threatens to Kill Longtime Friend (2018) |
Description: Benjamin John Francis Fodor, is a Seattle-based mixed martial artist signed to World Series of Fighting, where he has fought in two catchweight bouts, one of which was notably against his older foster brother - UFC Strikeforce and ONE Championship fighter Carlos Fodor. When not fighting in the ring, Fodor styles, or at least styled himself an American real-life superhero. Starting out by wearing a ski mask to intervene in a public assault (perhaps not the most clever attire for intervention), Fodor later developed a full costume and named himself "Phoenix Jones.” From 2011 until its dissolution in 2014, Jones was the leader of the Rain City Superhero Movement, a Seattle-based citizen superhero patrol group that described itself as a crime prevention brigade. Seattle police have expressed concern that the strange costumes may lead to emergency calls from citizens who mistake the "superheroes" for criminals, whereas Jones replies that it helps differentiate him from the police. Jones is known for having stopped many fights around Seattle, and for his use of pepper spray… which on at least one occasion resulted in his arrest, though he was not charged with a crime (a fact he broadcast in a nearly-all-caps wall of text on Facebook). In November 2012 Jones made national headlines when a video went viral showing Jones engaging in “mutual combat” - a fight between consenting adults which under certain circumstances is not illegal under Washington law nor under Seattle’s municipal code. The fight took place in front of a Seattle police officer, who did not intervene. A search of court records in Washington reveals that Jones has seen the inside of a courtroom and even a jail cell on multiple occasions, most frequently, it seems, for driving without a license. It should be noted that mutual combat is not always legal in Seattle and that at least two other Washington cities have criminalized mutual combat. Seattle Municipal Code 12A.06.025 states that "It is unlawful for any person to intentionally fight with another person in a public place and thereby create a substantial risk of: 1. Injury to a person who is not actively participating in the fight; or 2. Damage to the property of a person who is not actively participating in the fight.” On January 28, 2019, Washington Judge Gregg Hirakawa issued a one-year full order of protection against Ben Fodor, in a case captioned Caston v. Fodor, making permanent (for one year) multiple temporary anti-harassment orders that had preceded its issuance. This video tells a different story that preceded a similar petition for an order of protection. In this case the petition was strangely denied after Fodor repaid the plaintiff, the male seen in this video, $60 in open court. 
|
