Costumed Kook Busted In Seattle Street Assaults

OCTOBER 10--A Seattle man who dresses up in a superhero costume and fashions himself an urban crime fighter was arrested early yesterday for assault after he allegedly pepper sprayed four people whom he claimed were brawling outside a nightclub.

Benjamin Fodor, 23, was arrested after a woman told police that she and her friends were “attacked and pepper sprayed by a male in a ‘spiderman’ costume.” While Fodor’s get-up bears more of a resemblance to that of the Caped Crusader, he calls himself “Phoenix Jones.”

Fodor, pictured above in and out of costume, told Seattle Police Department officers that he “observed a fight disturbance” and “ran into the crowd to break up the fight.” He did this by deploying pepper spray against “several individuals in the group,” according to a police report.

Investigators noted that the victims denied fighting in the street, and that they wanted Fodor “to be arrested for attacking them.” Cops confiscated Fodor’s costume, mask, and two cans of pepper spray, which were “packaged for evidence.”

As reported by police, Fodor “belongs to a group who refer to themselves as superheros,” and has “had a history of injecting himself in these incidents.” Recently, cops added, “there have been increased reports of citizens being pepper sprayed” by Fodor and his delusional companions. Although Fodor “has been advised to observe and report incidents to 911, he continues to try and resolve things on his own.”

Shortly before the incident that resulted in his arrest, cops received a report that Fodor had pepper sprayed several other nightclub patrons. While those individuals had departed by the time cops arrived, officers “noted the odor of pepper spray was still in the air.”

Charged with four counts of aggravated assault with a weapon, Fodor spent about seven hours in custody yesterday before bonding out.

On his "Phoenix Jones" Facebook page, Fodor describes himself as the leader of the "Rain City Superhero Movement," and lists his personal interests as "Fighting crime as well as raising awareness that anyone can report crime. If everyone were to report crime, there would be no crime." (2 pages)