A 36-year-old Portland man is being held without bail after prosecutors say he beat another man bloody with his own cane near Southwest Broadway and Southwest 1st Avenue, all because the victim wouldn't give him a cigarette. The attack was so violent that the cane shattered into several pieces.
According to KATU, court documents say the victim was sitting and smoking a cigarette on September 2 when Joshua Joseph Kelly approached and asked for a puff. The victim offered him a drag from his own cigarette, but that apparently wasn't enough — police say Kelly knocked the cane from the victim's hand, then picked it up and beat him over the head with it repeatedly. A woman nearby witnessed the attack, which left the victim with a bleeding head injury.
Kelly later admitted to hitting the man with the cane but claimed he was acting in self-defense, the outlet reports. He also made several statements to investigators that officers described as nonsensical. He was arraigned on September 4 on charges of assault, attempted assault, and unlawful use of a weapon, and is due back in court on September 15.
A History of Transit Confrontations
This is not Kelly's first run-in with police on Portland's transit system. He was arrested earlier this year in Multnomah County on harassment and disorderly conduct charges after being involved in at least two scuffles on a TriMet MAX platform near Northeast 82nd Avenue, per the same KATU account. Surveillance footage from that incident reportedly showed Kelly pushing another man who was pushing a person in a wheelchair, a shove that nearly sent the man into the street.
Kelly was also arrested while trying to board a MAX train near Southwest 5th Avenue and Oak Street, and a warrant was later issued for his arrest out of Washington County after he failed to appear in that case. He has separately been arrested in Washington County on suspicion of stealing from a 7-Eleven and in Clackamas County on theft charges tied to an alleged theft from a JCPenney, later failing to appear for a hearing in the Clackamas County case as well. In June, Port of Portland police arrested him at a Target store on Northeast Cascades Parkway after he allegedly tried to leave with several items stuffed in his backpack; officers reportedly found nearly $130 in merchandise along with two Oregon IDs bearing different names on him.
In 2014, Kelly was convicted of felony assault with a deadly weapon in Sacramento, California, according to the KATU report.
Why Prior Charges Never Stuck
One earlier TriMet criminal case against Kelly was dismissed entirely after he was found unfit to stand trial, KATU reported. That outcome traces back to Oregon Revised Statutes 161.370, which requires courts to pause proceedings so a defendant can undergo “aid and assist” competency restoration treatment when they lack the mental fitness to understand the charges against them or assist their own defense, according to the Oregon Health Authority.
That process has real time limits. Under federal court orders and Oregon Senate Bill 295, state psychiatric commitments for defendants found unfit to proceed are capped at 90 days for misdemeanors and one year for violent felonies, and charges are often dismissed outright if competency isn't restored within that window, according to Disability Rights Oregon. As Hoodline previously reported, that dynamic creates what amounts to a revolving door between criminal courts, state psychiatric facilities, and community release for defendants who cycle in and out of the system without ever facing trial.
What Kelly Could Face If Convicted
If Kelly is ultimately found competent to stand trial, the stakes are steep. Second-Degree Assault involving a deadly or dangerous weapon is a Class B felony under Oregon Revised Statutes 163.175, and it falls under Oregon's Ballot Measure 11, which mandates a minimum sentence of 70 months — five years and ten months — in prison upon conviction, with no possibility of early release, per the Oregon State Legislature. Measure 11 was enacted by Oregon voters in 1994 specifically to impose mandatory minimums for violent offenses.
The Unlawful Use of a Weapon charge Kelly also faces is a separate Class C felony under ORS 166.220, carrying up to five years in prison and fines as high as $125,000 under Oregon law. That statute makes it a crime to intentionally use or attempt to use any object as a dangerous weapon against another person.
Part of a Broader Pattern on Portland Transit
The case echoes another recent Multnomah County prosecution. In August, a judge sentenced a different defendant to seven-and-a-half years in prison for a 2025 TriMet assault that also began as a dispute over smoking aboard a transit vehicle, Hoodline reported. Smoking and vaping are strictly prohibited on TriMet vehicles under the agency's code. Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez maintains two Deputy District Attorneys assigned exclusively to prosecuting violent crimes against transit riders, staff, and facilities, a role funded directly by TriMet.
Violence at MAX stops has been a recurring theme in the region this year, including an April assault at the North Lombard Transit Center in which a rider was thrown onto the tracks during a robbery, and a February attack at the PSU MAX stop. TriMet's 2024 Attitude and Awareness Survey of more than 4,000 regional residents found that roughly 41% of MAX riders felt unsafe onboard, with 82% of those concerned citing other passengers' aggressive or disruptive behavior as their top worry. In response, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office reported a 38.5% increase in Transit Police activity across the network in its 2025 annual report, and Portland Police Bureau officers rejoined the Transit Police division in October 2025 for the first time since 2020, bringing dedicated transit patrol staffing to 31 officers.
