A Black food truck owner who was attacked by a white man outside his business in Southeast Portland’s Foster-Powell neighborhood has hired an attorney to investigate the attack and the Portland Police Bureau’s response to it.
Darell Preston, 36, suffered severe facial injuries after being attacked “without warning” shortly after 7 p.m. on June 15 on the sidewalk next to his food truck, LoRell’s Chicken Shack, on Southeast Foster Road and 52nd Avenue.
Preston was on the phone with his wife when the attacker started beating Preston while calling him racist slurs, according to Alicia LeDuc Montgomery, Preston’s attorney.
Darell Preston, 36, suffered severe facial injuries after a man attacked him June 15, 2023, in Southeast Portland, his attorney said.Images courtesy Alicia LeDuc Montgomery
LeDuc Montgomery sent a letter to the City of Portland and the Multnomah County District Attorney on Monday notifying them that she was investigating the attack, along with the “timeliness and sufficiency of the government’s response,” according to a copy of a letter reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
“We are deeply disturbed by this assault, which has left the community shaken and outraged,” LeDuc Montgomery said in a statement Monday. “We call upon law enforcement to thoroughly investigate this despicable act of violence.”
Preston and his family declined to be interviewed through their attorney.
Police responded to the food cart pod on June 15, but a spokesperson for the bureau said June 20 that Preston declined to talk with the officers at length.
“It took officers several minutes to convince the victim to come out of the foot cart to talk with them,” spokesperson Terri Wallo Strauss said last week. “Once the victim was out he told officers he was delivering food and was ‘attacked.’ When the officer asked for more detail on exactly what happened, the victim refused to say more and locked himself in the cart.”
LeDuc Montgomery said this week her client was too terrified and wounded to talk to officers.
“He could hardly speak because his face had been so badly beaten in,” she said.
A video of the assault taken across the street from the food truck appears to show a bald white man punching and kicking a man identified by LeDuc Montgomery as Preston who is crumpled on the sidewalk. The man on the sidewalk appears to struggle to sit up, only to be beaten back down, according to the video, which was reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Passing cars can be heard honking and one driver yells at the attacker to stop, according to the video. The attacker appears to stop beating the man and walks away from the scene with his hands in his pockets.
A video provided by Darell Preston’s attorney appears to show a white man attacking a person on the sidewalk by Southeast Foster Road before walking away.Image courtesy Alicia LeDuc Montgomery
Portland police detectives are investigating the assault, but not as a bias crime, said police spokesperson Sgt. Kevin Allen on Monday.
“This isn’t being investigated as a hate crime since no elements of a hate crime was detailed to officers,” Allen said. “The victim would not agree to cooperate with the investigation and provided no description of the assault to officers.”
Officers initially thought they were responding to the report of an injured pedestrian struck by a car. When they arrived, firefighters who had already responded to the scene said there had been an assault and that both the attacker and victim had left the area, Allen said.
Officers found Preston at his food truck, where he gave them a general description of his attacker. When they asked for more details about the assault, he refused to say more, Allen said.
An officer gave Preston his business card and asked him to call if he changed his mind and wanted to provide more details about the assault, Allen said.
Officers searched the area but didn’t find the suspected attacker.
Responding police officers did not call an ambulance for Preston, whose wife drove him to a hospital where he was treated for “severe facial injuries,” LeDuc Montgomery’s statement said.
Photos of Preston’s face immediately after the attack show one of his eyes leaking blood and completely swollen shut, and the other eye swollen and partially filled with blood. His mouth also appears swollen.
Preston’s family created a GoFundMe on June 17 to help with the family’s bills after they had to temporarily close the food truck due to Preston’s injuries. The fundraiser had raised over $35,000 by Monday afternoon. The food truck is expected to reopen later this week, LeDuc Montgomery said.
“We are grateful for the outpouring of care from individuals and organizations, and appreciate community members remaining unified in their peaceful support for the pursuit of justice and Darell’s healing,” said Preston’s wife, Marshnique Preston, in a statement provided by LeDuc Montgomery.
— Catalina Gaitán, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_
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