'He was just punching and kicking me everywhere'
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PORTLAND, Ore. – Police arrested a homeless man who they said repeatedly punched a handicapped man in a random attack along Portland’s Eastbank Esplanade Friday.
Joe Nelson told KATU News that the suspect was looking for a fight and asked him if he was looking at him.
“I walked by and I kinda laughed and I go ‘I’m handicapped I’m not going to mess with you,’” said Nelson. “I just started walking and he gets me from behind and he hits me.”
Nelson, who walks with a cane, said the attack felt like it lasted minutes, but only after the stranger stopped hitting him did anyone else offer to help him.
“He was just punching and kicking me everywhere. I’m on the ground and I’m just covering myself like a boxer. I don’t want to get hit in the face anymore.”
Nelson called 911 after the attack and gave police a description of the suspect. Officers found the suspect, 31-year-old Jon Russell Romine, on the Eastbank Esplanade near the Steel Bridge and arrested him.
Romine was taken to the Multnomah County Jail. He faces one count of assault in the fourth degree.
Nelson said he still plans to walk in the same area by the river, although he will be more cautious. He says he’s already forgiven Romine.
“It’s not going to do any good to be angry and unforgiving. That would make things worse,” Nelson said.
“Gotta look forward, not backward.”
Meth at play
Undercover cops have staged child abductions all over the place in broad daylight where the kid is in on it and screaming "Help, stranger, I do not know this man while trying to pull away and people just look the other way, mothers cross the street to avoid it fathers do the same. When witnesses were later interviewed, they all said the same thing. IÂ DIDN'T WANT TO GET INVOLVED! Can you even imagine a society that would allow child abductions and even cross the street to stay out of the way of the assailents?
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That is what this society has become, Love it or leave it huh? How about we fix it starting with ourselves?
Pretty shabby there, Portland. Born in Oregon, but damned glad not to live there.
Gotta love this guy's attitude. Had it been me, I would have been looking to unleash a huge can of vengeance upon this punk. Especially seeing as how no one else would help a HANDICAPPED man. WHAT is wrong with our society? Have our spines deteriorated as our midsections have gotten bigger, or do people just not CARE anymore? Sickening.
@LoudNoises Some people just don't care anymore, and even those who do have to worry about a gun being pulled on them.Â
wow. Nobody wanted to help him--a handicapped guy getting stomped--until "after" the attacker stopped? And he had to call 911 himself? Is that part of "keep Portland weird?"