A 36-year-old man is being held without bail after Portland police say he chased another man down and hurled metal pipes at him near Providence Park, striking him in the elbow hard enough to raise an egg-sized lump three to four inches wide. Evan Taylor Lidgard now faces charges including assault, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing and reckless endangerment stemming from the encounter, which prosecutors allege was entirely unprovoked.
According to court documents cited by KATU, police responded on September 7 to reports of a person throwing metal pipes at people near the stadium. A witness reported hearing a disturbance inside Providence Park and then saw a shirtless, bearded man yelling and throwing metal poles at another man. The alleged victim told officers he had been carrying groceries back to his apartment when the confrontation began.
Investigators say the attacker threw at least two pipes at the victim and chased him before officers arrived and made contact with Lidgard. Police recovered a black wheel with a brass-colored pipe attached to it at the scene, and the alleged victim identified Lidgard as the person who attacked him. KATU's report notes Lidgard was subsequently arraigned on assault charges.
Charges and a Court Date Ahead
Lidgard was charged with two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of menacing and two counts of reckless endangerment. Under Oregon Revised Statute 166.220, unlawful use of a weapon is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison, according to Justia Law. Separately, under ORS 163.175, intentionally causing physical injury with a dangerous weapon constitutes second-degree assault, a Class B felony that carries a mandatory minimum of 70 months in prison under Oregon's Measure 11, per the Oliveros Law Group. A judge has ordered Lidgard held without bail, and he is due back in court on September 16.
Court records reviewed by the station also show Lidgard has an open Multnomah County case from 2023 involving reckless driving and reckless endangerment, along with a misdemeanor conviction from 2012 in Blacksburg, Virginia. The station's report is the sole account detailing these prior legal entanglements.
Why a Judge Can Deny Bail in Oregon
Oregon judges may order a defendant held without bail pending trial when charged with a violent felony involving actual or threatened serious physical injury, under Article I, Section 43 of the Oregon Constitution and ORS 135.240, according to the Oregon State Legislature. That authority survived Oregon's Senate Bill 48, which took effect in July 2022 and eliminated standardized bail schedules statewide in favor of risk-based release decisions, while still preserving judges' power to hold violent felony suspects without bail, according to Multnomah County. Oregon is also one of only four states that bans commercial bail bond agencies entirely, instead relying on a court-administered security release system in which defendants deposit 10 percent of bail directly with the court clerk, according to Romano Law.
A Family's Years-Long Concern
Family members posted online in 2023 expressing concern about Lidgard's well-being, describing him at the time as living on Portland's streets. A subsequent missing-person post shared in August 2024 described him as 6 feet 2 inches tall with red hair, facial hair and knee tattoos, often accompanied by a dog while living unsheltered in the city, according to a Facebook post from his family.
The case lands amid a broader regional strain on homeless services. The 2024 Point-in-Time count recorded 5,384 people experiencing homelessness in Multnomah County, with 3,573 living unsheltered, even as local providers added 671 emergency shelter beds between 2023 and 2024, according to Portland State University. More recently, Multnomah County adopted a real-time By-Name List tracking system for unhoused residents in 2025 and 2026 that has recorded notably higher counts than traditional one-night surveys, according to KGW.
Latest in a String of Incidents Near Goose Hollow
The alleged attack adds to a run of public safety incidents in the Goose Hollow area surrounding Providence Park. In February, a downtown stabbing led to a temporary lockdown at Lincoln High after two suspects fled near the campus before police detained them. In May, a fatal crash involving a fire and explosive device struck the Multnomah Athletic Club just blocks from the stadium. Both incidents unfolded within the same stretch of central Portland now facing renewed scrutiny after Lidgard's arrest.
