- Oct 9, 1999
- 46,746
- 10,300
- 146
I have known this "young" man for nearly 30 years now. I watched him grow up. He's a beautiful person, and about as "chill" and loving a being as could be, through and through, no bullshit. Go to his Facebook page if you doubt me even one little bit and judge for yourself.
He's also African American. His Mom is white, his Dad black, so he's mixed but presents, with his dreads, as a black man.
He's a musician who follows Phish. A few days ago, at a Phish concert, totally unprovoked, a Nazi skinhead he didn't even know smashed his face with a HUGE rock, knocking out a bunch of his teeth and more:
From his Facebook account of the incident:
Samir Poles
July 24 at 11:43 AM ·
Hi Phriends. My name is Samir Poles. I was one of the victims at the Gorge Saturday night. I've been going to see my favorite band Phish since 6/24/95. If you knew me at all you would know that I have 00 love for NO2 any way to Sunday. It takes away from the artist/fan merch and brings a shit element to scene. I'm a guitar player who idolizes Trey and goes
for the music and the best community on Earth. I was having a great f-n night. I was hanging Page-low as always at the gorge. I thought farmhouse was a good time to take a pee obvi
jk. As I was walking back from the bathroom to meet my friends a really big dude who was waiting in the shadows put a bowling ball sized rock thru my face > I wake up on the ground gushing blood through the whole in my mouth where my teeth used to be. The other victim Joe arrived in the medical tent 2 minutes after me and was very very hurt. This attack had zero to do with nitrous and was coordinated by at least two men at the exact same time in opposite corners of the venue. I know a lot of people saw it but since the police were never alerted we only have a few witness's to give statements but the people I did talk to gave an identical description of the guy that hit me as the big muscular nitrous guy they arrested this weekend for dealing in the lot and the guy that hit Joe as smaller and crazed looking. My friend who saved me and was with me thru to the ambulance gave a statement to security who didn't even write it down. The reason that you haven't seen anything reported is because Live Nation never reported the incident to the Police until the next day, never ran after the guy as my friend who witnessed it pointed and screamed for them to as they drug me away and kept asking what drugs I was on. I'm sorry I'm just getting this message out but I got hit in the head with a giant rock and had to Nancy Drew it myself the last few days with a busted face and a jelly fish head. I am meeting with a detective for the first time this morning right before I go into the first of many surgeries I will need to fix my mouth. If anyone saw anything - either my attack page-low bathroom's or Joe's assault Mike side high please PM me or contact the Grant county Police department. I was gonna be on with all of you! thru SF but that's for sure not happening now
Hoping to be mostly recovered and back Phishin' by festival 11 with all y'all my amazing Phriends and Pham
✨
All Love Shine A Light
From LiveforLiveMusic's page:
What We Know About The Violence At Phish’s Run At The Gorge
We spoke with Kyle Foreman, the public information officer at the Grant County Sheriff’s Department, whose jurisdiction includes The Gorge.
[...]
When asked, Foreman could not confirm that both victims were people of color, [They were!] though he also hopes to be able to provide more information on this aspect of the attacks later today. Foreman also noted that they did not have any suspects at this time, but hopes that with more first-hand witnesses coming forward, they can begin to piece together what happened more fully and identify any suspects that may have been involved.
When asked about accounts that the venue or Live Nation’s security failed to notify the police of the assaults, Foreman explained, “We were notified by security and we assigned a deputy down to the medical treatment, where he began to gather information,” reiterating that there wasn’t a ton of information available at that time. He also noted that especially given the nature of the attacks, the Department worked to assign a detective to the case as soon as possible, and the investigation started as soon as they found people were assaulted at the show. He also mentioned that these investigations take time, unlike what might be common in crime television shows, and that the department encountered delays as they filtered through varied accounts on social media.
In addressing the reports and photos of a Neo-Nazi presence at Phish’s show at The Gorge, Foreman was unable to provide much more information. When asked about pictures circulating about the police stopping men with swastika/SS tattoos at Shakedown, he explained that he didn’t know anything about that and was unaware of what the circumstances were that they were being contacted by law enforcement. When asked about the local presence of white supremacists in the area around the Gorge, Foreman offered that to his knowledge, there are no movements or encampments of a Neo-Nazi presence in the area. He also noted that “If there’s any credence to that claim, once we investigate and ask witnesses, we’ll try to determine whether that even played a role or whether it’s speculation.”
Samir's GoFundMe page #1
$14,350 of $15,000 goal
Raised by 333 people in 4 days
Samir's GoFundMe page #2
$19,989 of $30,000 goal
Raised by 507 people in 4 days
The other victim, whom Samir didn't know and who was attacked with a huge rock by a Nazi skinhead at the very same time but in a completely different part of the concert's GoFundMe page
$27,992 of $50,000 goal
Raised by 951 people in 4 days
What can I say? This sickens me. It was a hate crime, pure and simple. In these days of Trump, the haters feel emboldened and supported by the President of the United States of America:
"He says what we're thinking."
He's also African American. His Mom is white, his Dad black, so he's mixed but presents, with his dreads, as a black man.
He's a musician who follows Phish. A few days ago, at a Phish concert, totally unprovoked, a Nazi skinhead he didn't even know smashed his face with a HUGE rock, knocking out a bunch of his teeth and more:
From his Facebook account of the incident:
Samir Poles
July 24 at 11:43 AM ·
Hi Phriends. My name is Samir Poles. I was one of the victims at the Gorge Saturday night. I've been going to see my favorite band Phish since 6/24/95. If you knew me at all you would know that I have 00 love for NO2 any way to Sunday. It takes away from the artist/fan merch and brings a shit element to scene. I'm a guitar player who idolizes Trey and goes
jk. As I was walking back from the bathroom to meet my friends a really big dude who was waiting in the shadows put a bowling ball sized rock thru my face > I wake up on the ground gushing blood through the whole in my mouth where my teeth used to be. The other victim Joe arrived in the medical tent 2 minutes after me and was very very hurt. This attack had zero to do with nitrous and was coordinated by at least two men at the exact same time in opposite corners of the venue. I know a lot of people saw it but since the police were never alerted we only have a few witness's to give statements but the people I did talk to gave an identical description of the guy that hit me as the big muscular nitrous guy they arrested this weekend for dealing in the lot and the guy that hit Joe as smaller and crazed looking. My friend who saved me and was with me thru to the ambulance gave a statement to security who didn't even write it down. The reason that you haven't seen anything reported is because Live Nation never reported the incident to the Police until the next day, never ran after the guy as my friend who witnessed it pointed and screamed for them to as they drug me away and kept asking what drugs I was on. I'm sorry I'm just getting this message out but I got hit in the head with a giant rock and had to Nancy Drew it myself the last few days with a busted face and a jelly fish head. I am meeting with a detective for the first time this morning right before I go into the first of many surgeries I will need to fix my mouth. If anyone saw anything - either my attack page-low bathroom's or Joe's assault Mike side high please PM me or contact the Grant county Police department. I was gonna be on with all of you! thru SF but that's for sure not happening now
All Love Shine A Light
From LiveforLiveMusic's page:
What We Know About The Violence At Phish’s Run At The Gorge
We spoke with Kyle Foreman, the public information officer at the Grant County Sheriff’s Department, whose jurisdiction includes The Gorge.
[...]
When asked, Foreman could not confirm that both victims were people of color, [They were!] though he also hopes to be able to provide more information on this aspect of the attacks later today. Foreman also noted that they did not have any suspects at this time, but hopes that with more first-hand witnesses coming forward, they can begin to piece together what happened more fully and identify any suspects that may have been involved.
When asked about accounts that the venue or Live Nation’s security failed to notify the police of the assaults, Foreman explained, “We were notified by security and we assigned a deputy down to the medical treatment, where he began to gather information,” reiterating that there wasn’t a ton of information available at that time. He also noted that especially given the nature of the attacks, the Department worked to assign a detective to the case as soon as possible, and the investigation started as soon as they found people were assaulted at the show. He also mentioned that these investigations take time, unlike what might be common in crime television shows, and that the department encountered delays as they filtered through varied accounts on social media.
In addressing the reports and photos of a Neo-Nazi presence at Phish’s show at The Gorge, Foreman was unable to provide much more information. When asked about pictures circulating about the police stopping men with swastika/SS tattoos at Shakedown, he explained that he didn’t know anything about that and was unaware of what the circumstances were that they were being contacted by law enforcement. When asked about the local presence of white supremacists in the area around the Gorge, Foreman offered that to his knowledge, there are no movements or encampments of a Neo-Nazi presence in the area. He also noted that “If there’s any credence to that claim, once we investigate and ask witnesses, we’ll try to determine whether that even played a role or whether it’s speculation.”
Samir's GoFundMe page #1
$14,350 of $15,000 goal
Raised by 333 people in 4 days
Samir's GoFundMe page #2
$19,989 of $30,000 goal
Raised by 507 people in 4 days
The other victim, whom Samir didn't know and who was attacked with a huge rock by a Nazi skinhead at the very same time but in a completely different part of the concert's GoFundMe page
$27,992 of $50,000 goal
Raised by 951 people in 4 days
What can I say? This sickens me. It was a hate crime, pure and simple. In these days of Trump, the haters feel emboldened and supported by the President of the United States of America:
"He says what we're thinking." 
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