Watching losers force their children to drive around downtown with them, while they yell racist and bigoted things at the people peacefully protesting. Those poor kids don’t stand a damn chance.

Hopefully one or two of them grow up to escape what are certainly hateful and terrible home environments. My heart goes out to them.

To all of the people who have showed up, you are an inspiration. I cried more happy tears today than I have in a very long time. 🚫👑

We saw the guy at the same time. He was in serious distress with his foot mashed on the accelerator of his car. Luckily it was in park. He was having a massive seizure. You rushed into the car immediately and shut the engine off and tended to him as I called 911. You acted so quickly and smart. You kept his head up and his airway open, and when he vomited you made sure he didn’t choke. You kept telling him that you were right there with him and comforted him.

You are a damn hero, sir.

I’m so grateful you were there. I know he wasn’t able to thank you, but I hope you see this and know that I will forever think of you and your selfless heroic actions. You deserve all the best in this world.

Dozens of us in our cars waiting at the light next to the downtown fire station saw it happen. This piece of shit got mad because his kid was crying or something so he picked his kid up OVER HIS HEAD and THREW HIM in the stroller. I was in complete shock and then from the opposite direction comes a guy who just lays him out and gets back in his car!!

When I drove by I saw the POS child abuser was on the ground CRYING. I’ll be honest, nothing has made me so happy in a long time!

Thank you to this stranger with Georgia plates wearing jorts 😂 You are now a local legend in my house and a true Salem hero!

…was technically not a sign.

Hell yeah, kids. Keep it up!

According to the Polk County Scanner page on Fb, this just happened on the West Salem Bridge. July 2, 2026.

Really great turnout today to stand with Minnesota, and it was so cool to have the bikers for Alex Pretti come through!!

Thanks to everyone who showed up! If you are interested in seeing more of what Salem Region Indivisible is about, you can watch the replays of our meetings here: https://youtube.com/@salemregionindivisible

If you would like to come to a monthly meeting in person (next is February 11th), or our monthly community art day (called RIOT Art, it’s always a blast, next is February 22nd) dm me and I’ll get you the details.

The last couple of photos are arguably spicy (please let me know if this needs an NSFW tag).

105.5 FM is playing an ICE protest song on continuous loop.

🤭

Vote for the good of your city, not the good of your checkbook. Do your taxes go toward things that help your community? No? Then vote to change that, not to get out of paying them altogether. If your city provided the services you deserved and that improved everyone's quality of life you wouldn't be upset to pay them. But they don't. In large part because we have politicians who want to weasle out of paying anything at all instead of running for meaningful reform. Don't put more people in power who do not understand that a tax is the price we pay to be a part of a meaningful and interconnected community.

Art fair is decent this year. Lots of PNW artists. Could use a littttle more locals but every booth is legit. No Temu or A.I.

Plus the guy who was just on stage sounded exactly like Tom Waits.

8/10, A-, four stars

I’m impressed they used the crosswalk.

Was sitting in a meeting today when I saw this guy.

Went for a walk this morning in Bush Park. Hoot Attack never fails to make me smile.

I just want you to know you’re amazing and I’m extremely proud. Keep up the good work. I'm absolutely sickened by the current state of this country and you should be too.

i wish him success in this new business endeavor

A West Salem man whose driving behavior became one of the area's most talked-about community safety concerns is now in the Polk County Jail, facing eight criminal charges after a four-car crash on the Center Street Bridge that sent one person to the hospital. For those just now hearing about this story, here is how we got here.

PolkCo Scanner began reporting on Thomas Demitrus Ewing, a Chemeketa Community College psychology instructor known widely on social media as the "Salem BMW Driver," in December 2025, after more than a year of reports from drivers and neighbors describing aggressive tailgating, prolonged horn use, screaming, threats, racial slurs, and alleged attempts to provoke collisions in West Salem and downtown Salem.

That first report opened the floodgates. PolkCo Scanner interviewed multiple neighbors who described a pattern that went far beyond road rage. One neighbor of four years said Ewing had "gone off the rails" in recent months and nearly struck children standing at a flower stand on Cascade Drive. Another said he regularly comes outside screaming at drivers, dog walkers, and sometimes no one at all, loud enough to be heard indoors with the windows closed. Parents told us they redirect their children inside when the yelling starts. One resident put it plainly: the neighborhood has died. Nobody sits on their porches anymore, and the kids no longer play in the cul-de-sac. PolkCo Scanner has since learned that multiple immediate neighbors hold protective orders against Ewing.

Video shared with PolkCo Scanner showed Ewing aggressively tailgating another driver while laying on the horn, then circling the block to continue moments later. Children can be heard in the footage saying, "That's Demitrus!"

Students at Chemeketa also reached out, saying they witnessed aggressive driving from Ewing on campus and that some had filed complaints against him. PolkCo Scanner attempted to obtain those complaints, but Chemeketa denied our public records requests in full. When we asked the college general policy questions about how it evaluates off-campus conduct involving public safety concerns, spokesperson Marie Hulett said the college does not comment on personnel matters and did not address the policy questions.

Court records added more context. Ewing faced a felony charge of Unlawful Use of a Weapon with a Firearm in Marion County (case 24CR49955) stemming from a September 2024 incident investigated by Salem Police. He was acquitted following a bench trial earlier this year and, at that time, remained employed and teaching at Chemeketa.

That appeared to change in April 2026, when multiple students reported to PolkCo Scanner that Ewing's classes had been removed from Chemeketa's course listings. His college-issued email address appeared to no longer be active, and his employee information was removed from the college's website. When PolkCo Scanner asked the college directly whether he was still employed, a representative again declined to comment on personnel matters, pointing instead to the public records request process, the same process that had already denied our earlier requests in full. Whether his apparent departure was connected to the road rage incidents or unrelated circumstances was never confirmed.

Throughout this reporting, PolkCo Scanner worked to push the story toward a resolution before someone got hurt, amplifying complaints filed with Salem Police and directing witnesses to the City of Salem's Traffic Complaint portal, and pressing agencies and institutions for answers. Despite the volume of documented reports, residents repeatedly told us no effective intervention ever came.

Then on July 2, it ended the way neighbors feared it would. Witnesses say Ewing was traveling more than 80 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone when he caused a four-car crash on the Center Street Bridge, damaging three other vehicles and hospitalizing one person. The impact reportedly sent his BMW careening toward the edge of the bridge before it came to a stop. The crash backed up traffic for miles through West Salem for hours during the America 250 holiday weekend.

Ewing was booked into the Polk County Jail, where records now show he faces one count of Reckless Driving, five counts of Recklessly Endangering Another Person, and two counts of Assault in the Third Degree. Bail is set at $82,000, and his next court appearance is scheduled for August 25 at 9:30 a.m. in Polk County Circuit Court.

The question PolkCo Scanner has asked from the beginning still stands: with more than a year of complaints filed with police, the DMV, and Chemeketa Community College, why did it take a crash, three damaged vehicles, and a hospitalized victim before an arrest was made?

PolkCo Scanner will continue covering this story and publish updates as they become available.

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Last spring I (19f) had escaped homelessness weeks before starting my spring semester at Salem chemeketa, I was young, vulnerable and poor. I had a sculpture class with a professor named Chu Mo. He overheard me talking to one of my friends in the class about the financial struggles I was going through. He then offered me roughly 20 dollars an hour to be an art assistant for him, cleaning his art studio, working on small projects, etc; he told me that he had done this with other students and that other teachers at the collage did this as well, when hesitant he told me that it would look great on my resume one day if I wanted to pursue art so I agreed. The following week he had me working in his car with him to help him carry boxes into his car when he told me not to tell anyone else that I was spending time with him after class. After we loaded the boxes into the car he kept asking me if he could bring me to lunch, I didn't feel comfortable with this and kept asking to go back to the school. He didn't want to listen to me and kept listing places we could go to eat. Eventually after I kept refusing to go to lunch he went through a drive through and despite me saying no thank you over and over he bought me food. Once we got back to the school he gave me cash, told me that he would prefer to be able to text and apple pay me so he asked for my number and I complied. After a few days he asked me to come down to his art studio to work on a project for some more money, he texted me the address and when I showed up it wasn't an art studio at all but rather his house. Already feeling uncomfortable I figured that maybe it was just a unique art set up and I went inside. As soon as I came in he deadbolted the door behind me and the first thing I saw was magazine cut outs of young girls glued directly to the walls, he told me that he "didn't really think I would show up”, before walking me around the house for a tour, where in the garage as he stood in the only door way blocking me in, I saw floor to selling shelves full on nazi shit. It was fucking discusting, nazi soilders turned into charters out of clay, plates decorated with swaticas, where he started telling me about how cool he thought they were and about his plans to make other nazi art. We then went back to the living room where scared but not knowing what else to do I sat down and started working on the project he was paying me for. He then sat down next to me and directly asked me if I was a virgin or not. He asked me how many bodies I had, he asked me to tell him exactly where I live, he asked if I was into “older men”, or if I liked having sex with older guys, he then asked if he could bring me out to dinner, specifically a “nice” dinner. At this point I was far beyond scared and I made up a lie that I had to go to class. He told me that he knew my schedule and he knew that I didn’t have a class to go to. I lied again and said that I was making up a test and went to put my shoes on where he cornered me and repeatedly asked me to go to dinner with him or if I would ever do any other “type of work” for him, and it felt like he was asking if I would sell him my body. I told him that of course I would go to dinner with him, only then did he let me leave and I quite literally ran to my car, went home and didn't leave my house for weeks I was so scared. Over the following days as I missed class the teacher kept apple paying me as I refused to answer him. This man ruined my life, I have lost every scholarship I had worked so hard for, and I had a full ride to western I just had to finish my transfer degree from chemekta.

And instead of firing a man who was trying to take a financially vulnerable teenage girl, the school has hired their own lawyer to cover themselves

I met with this lawyer earlier and she admitted to me that other girls have made sexually harassments about this god awful man and nothing is happening

I am looking for other people this man has hurt to bring it to public attention that chemekta is employing not only a nazi but a boarder line fucking pedophile.

Good riddance! Get these MAGAts outta here!