A Portland, Oregon, man has been arrested for allegedly making anti-Asian remarks during a road rage incident on Friday afternoon.
Neal Hollis Walker, 54, pulled up to the male victim around South Macadam Avenue and South Taylors Ferry Road and “made bias statements about the victim being of Asian descent and the belief he was from China,” Portland police said on Saturday.
Walker then allegedly took a black object and pointed it at the victim, which led the latter to think it was a gun.
Detectives later learned that it was a black plastic air hose and confiscated it as evidence.
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Police said Walker then drove off, but the victim – who was uninjured – called 911 and followed him. Both drivers headed to Central Precinct at 1111 SW 2nd Avenue, and a sergeant spotted them just before 1:40 p.m.
One driver was still screaming at the other, according to police. The sergeant asked for additional officers and tried to separate the drivers.
Walker was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of second-degree bias crime and menacing. As per Oregon law, a second-degree bias crime is classified as a Class A misdemeanor.
This is the second time in less than a week wherein a man was arrested in Portland over an alleged anti-Asian bias crime. On Wednesday, Dylan J. Kesterson was arrested for allegedly punching a Japanese father and his 5-year-old daughter multiple times at the Eastbank Esplanade.
Featured Image via Portland Police Bureau
