A Latino man remodeling a business in the 12700 block of SW 3rd Street in Beaverton was tackled to the ground and punched repeatedly in the face by a stranger who told him he did not belong there, according to police. The attack happened on July 10, and investigators say the suspect yelled racial slurs at the victim throughout the assault. Beaverton police are now asking the public for help identifying the man responsible.
Police describe the suspect as a white male adult, roughly 30 to 40 years old, with a heavy build. According to the Beaverton Police Department, the man approached the victim at the job site before tackling him to the ground and punching him multiple times in the face, leaving him with injuries to his face. Investigators say they are treating the assault as a suspected bias-motivated attack.
Potential Felony Bias Crime Charge
Based on their investigation, Beaverton police say they have developed probable cause to arrest the suspect, who may face charges of assault in the fourth degree and bias crime in the first degree. The case has been assigned case number 26-1911055, and investigators are asking anyone who recognizes the suspect or has relevant information to contact the department at 503-526-2280.
Under Oregon law, Bias Crime in the First Degree is a Class C felony carrying up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $125,000, according to Oregon Laws. Assault in the Fourth Degree, by contrast, is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in county jail and a fine of up to $6,250. Oregon trimmed that misdemeanor cap from a full year to 364 days back in 2017 specifically to avoid triggering automatic federal immigration consequences for defendants.
Why an Arrest Would Mean Immediate Custody
If the suspect is arrested and the bias crime charge is filed, he would not be eligible for the immediate conditional release typically granted under standard bail schedules. An Oregon Judicial Department Chief Justice Order issued in 2023 requires that anyone arrested for Bias Crime in the First Degree be held in custody until a judge can evaluate bail and release terms at arraignment.
Oregon overhauled its approach to hate crimes in 2019 through Senate Bill 577, which renamed the charge from “intimidation” to “bias crime,” created a system for tracking non-criminal bias incidents, and established the nation's first statewide Bias Response Hotline, per the Oregon Department of Justice. That legislation followed recommendations from a statewide task force convened to address rising hate crimes. The state's legal authority to impose harsher penalties for bias-motivated violence traces back to the 1992 Oregon Supreme Court decision in State v. Plowman, which found that such enhancements punish discriminatory acts rather than beliefs or speech, according to Justia.
Beaverton's Latino Community and the Bigger Picture
The attack lands in a city where Hispanic or Latino residents make up 19.3 percent of the population, the largest racial or ethnic minority group in Beaverton, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Washington County, where Beaverton sits, holds the largest overall Latino population of any county in Oregon, with more than 107,000 Hispanic residents, based on census data analyzed by The Oregonian. That population grew by more than 25 percent between 2010 and 2020.
Statewide, race-based targeting remains the most common category of bias incident, accounting for 1,216 of 2,726 valid hotline reports logged in the 2024 Hate and Bias Annual Report from the Oregon Department of Justice and Criminal Justice Commission. Overall hotline reports actually dropped 7 percent that year, something officials attribute partly to underreporting. The state's Bias Response Hotline, reachable at 1-844-924-2427, offers trauma-informed support and victim advocacy in more than 240 languages for both criminal and non-criminal bias incidents.
The Beaverton Police Department, which operates out of the Beaverton Public Safety Center under Police Chief Stacy Jepson and logged nearly 79,000 calls for service in 2024, has not said whether investigators have recovered surveillance footage from nearby businesses or whether the suspect is linked to any other local bias incidents. Those details remain unresolved as the search for the man continues.
