A Portland man was arrested on Wednesday after failing to appear in court to face charges he attacked a father and his daughter because he believed they were of Japanese descent.
Dylan Kesterson, 34, has been charged with multiple crimes, including two counts of first-degree bias crime, after he allegedly attacked Ryuichiro Abe and his 5-year-old daughter without provocation while they were out riding a tandem bicycle on the city’s Eastbank Esplanade.
He rushed the family and “made comments about his perception that they were of Japanese descent”, according to police.
“We felt we might be killed,” Mr Abe said during Mr Kesterson’s arraignment, noting he was hit about 50 times.
Mr Kesterson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Peter Gould, a bystander who witnessed the attack, told KPTV he grabbed a piece of plywood and jumped in with a group of others to help defend the besieged family.
“It’s just unfortunate someone would do that,” Mr Gould said. “This was a bias crime, for sure. He was yelling that ‘You don’t belong in my country, you’ve taken my stuff’. It was obvious he was angry with them because of what they looked like.”
Mr Abe told Fox 12 he was shocked that Kesterson “has no perception that he did anything wrong. I have no good ideas on how to punish someone who has no sense of guilt. However, at least we are sure that his freedom to live his life causes the risk of the community. I cannot accept what he did and the way he thinks. I hope that a tragedy like ours will never be repeated.”
The Independent is attempting to reach the accused for comment.
Local leaders condemned the attack.
“I am outraged and disgusted by the assault that occurred on the Eastbank Esplanade,” Portland mayor Ted Wheeler told The Washington Post . “We will not tolerate this kind of behavior in our community.”
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s office has said it plans to request Mr Kesterson be held without bail.
According to AAPI Data, hate crimes against Asians have increased steadily throughout the pandemic, with one in eight reporting an incident in 2020, and one in six doing the same the following year.
