A 54-year-old man was arrested Friday afternoon outside the Portland Police Bureau headquarters after starting a racist confrontation with another driver and threatening violence, police said.
Neal Hollis Walker, 54, was booked into Multnomah County jail on suspicion of second-degree bias crime and menacing.
Police said Walker pulled up next to another driver near South Macadam Avenue and Taylors Ferry Road and made a series of racist remarks. Walker, who is white, believed the other driver to be of Asian descent, according to police.
Walker brandished a black plastic hose, acting as though it were a gun, before driving away, police said. The other driver followed Walker and called 911.
With the other driver still following, Walker drove to the central police precinct in downtown Portland, police said, where officers separated the two and eventually arrested Walker. He was still in custody Saturday afternoon, according to jail records.
Reports of anti-Asian racism and harassment in Oregon have been rising, according to surveys and reports to a state bias hotline. The bias hotline has seen increases in reports of bias against virtually all groups as the number of calls increased, but reports of incidents targeting Asians and Asian Americans increased by the largest percentage.
— Elliot Njus; enjus@oregonian.com
