PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man allegedly punched a cyclist and his 5-year-old daughter on Portland’s East Shore Esplanade near the Hawthorne Bridge in an alleged anti-Asian bias, police say crime.
Police said the suspect approached a family from California on a bike path south of the bridge around 3:45 p.m. on July 2 and began making comments about what he believed to be of Japanese ancestry.
Police said he repeatedly punched the 36-year-old father on the head and his daughter, who was wearing a bicycle helmet, before bystanders intervened.
Police found and arrested the suspect as he tried to leave, The Oregonian/Oregon Live reported.
Dylan J. Kesterson, 34, was jailed for a bias crime.
Police said the man and his daughter were injured but did not require medical attention. Police have not publicly identified the family.
Reports of anti-Asian bias increased at a faster rate last year than other calls to state bias hotlines, according to a report released last month.
Zhao Hongcheng, president of the Oregon Chinese Alliance, called the incident “very shocking.”
“A threat to Asians is a threat to the entire community,” Zhao wrote in a statement. “No one should live in fear in our community and in this great country.”
