Breaking News Phoenix Jones' Arrested in Seattle

Breaking News Phoenix Jones' Arrested in Seattle: Seattle's masked superhero crime fighter "Phoenix Jones" is now fighting an assault charge for allegedly spraying pepper spray on folks who he claims were fighting. Seattle police force claim the folks were dancing. Phoenix Jones, who has been unmasked by police force as Benjamin Francis, was caught about 2:30 a.m. Sunday while still wearing his black and gold superhero costume, a bullet-proof vest and carrying 2 cans of pepper spray. Jones is a member of Rain City Superhero Movement, a group of self-proclaimed superheroes who say they patrol the streets to fight crime. He was charged with assaulting 2 folks who police force said were "dancing and having a good time" as they walked to their car. In this particular case, he perceived that this group was fighting and when we contacted them, they said they were not fighting," said Det. Mark Jamieson, a Seattle police force section public information officer. "Unluckily, he used force. He committed a crime, an assault versus these individuals. That's versus the law. The police force report by Officer Hosea Crumpton said cited a woman who was sprayed saying the four victims "began dancing and frolicking with each other. Suddenly she observed a human running full sprint towards her group. The human sprayed all 4 victims with pepper spray, the report stated. Francis, who was being filmed by a journalist at the time, told police he "ran into the crowd to break up the fight. Seattle Superhero Phoenix Jones Now Fighting Assault Charges He saw 2 white males fighting, but could not explain why 4 folks, including women, had been sprayed," the police force report said. In a video taken by a journalist who was with Jones when he was arrested and posted on Jones' Facebook page shows Jones rushing towards commotion and a crowd in a road beneath an underpass in downtown Seattle. It's unclear from the video whether the group is fighting or just messing around, as police force said. The police report said that Francis "has had a history of injecting himself in these incidents. Recently there has been increased reports of citizens being pepper sprayed by [Francis] and his group." Earlier that night several other nightclub patrons told police they had also been pepper sprayed by Phoenix Jones, but left the area before police arrived. Peter Tangen, a photographer and spokesman for Phoenix Jones, questioned how police can say the group was dancing and joking around when Jones was on-scene as an eyewitness and police were not when the situation occurred. The first thing Phoenix did was to scream out to call 911," Tangen said. "He's been doing this four or five nights a week this entire year and he has never been charged with a crime. To assert that he ran into a bunch of people dancing and pepper sprayed them is entirely inconsistent with what he has done consistently this entire year." Jones, the husband and father of two, is a self-proclaimed superhero who roams the streets of Seattle late at night allegedly protecting his fellow citizens. "I'm definitely not going to let my fellow citizens be assaulted and not do anything," Jones told "Good Morning America" in January. "It's a pretty simple message. Citizens need to be more accountable. Calling 911 is a great start, but it's not the end all to end all," Jones said. "Criminals feel free to just run wild in my city, and I'm not going to stand for it." Jones isn't the only one who feels this way. He is just one of many citizen superheroes around the country with similar groups in Orlando, New York and Salt Lake City among other places. Over the years, the citizen superheroes have grown more organized, with websites popping up to help them organize themselves such as Superheroes Anonymous and Real Life Superheroes. On these websites, participants can do everything from share their crime-fighting stories to learn about patenting their looks and names. The Salt Lake City group, called the Black Monday Society, is made up of 9 members that go out to patrol downtown Salt Lake City some times a month. They meet up at the Salt Lake City Library and fan out from there, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. While the group does break up fights, they also deliver meals to the homeless and balance their superhero lives with families and day jobs.Breaking News Phoenix Jones' Arrested in Seattle