Seattle 'superhero' won't face assault charges

[November 29, 2011]  SEATTLE (AP) -- Officials in Seattle have decided not to press charges against a self-proclaimed superhero who was accused of assaulting several people with pepper spray.

Ben Fodor, who wears a black mask with yellow stripes and a bulging muscle bodysuit and calls himself Phoenix Jones, was arrested Oct. 9.

He says he was coming to the aid of people involved in a brawl outside a downtown Seattle night club.

City Attorney Pete Holmes said Wednesday that his office can't locate two of the people who were pepper sprayed, so it would be difficult to convince a jury that Fodor intentionally sprayed everyone at the scene.

Holmes says the case was complicated by Fodor's explanation, because state law lets people use force when he or she reasonably believes someone is about to be injured.

[Associated Press]

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