Last night, I was walking back to my car when I saw something horrible. Right in front of me, I saw about a half-dozen young men attack a homeless man.
I didn’t think much was happening at first: just some kids yelling, maybe they were drunk, maybe just excited. But then I saw a taller man, in ratty pants and a poncho with a scruffy beard, get hurled against the entrance to the Portland Outdoor Store on the corner of SW Third Avenue and SW Oak Street. He endured several punches to the head and upper torso before the group took off.
I immediately called 911, and the operator told me police were on their way. They were: as soon as I hung up the phone, I saw the flashing police lights speeding toward the intersection.
I watched as officers questioned Thomas Lundahl, the homeless man. The men attacked him after he saw them try to steal a woman’s iPod and he told them to stop, Lundahl said. Lundahl told the officer he was a little banged up, but all right. When asked, he said he did not wish to press charges, even when told that another officer had stopped a group of men that may have been involved in the attack.
The whole thing left me a little rattled, and I couldn’t help but wonder: when is it up to the police to arrest someone, and when is up to the victim? This is especially concerning when that victim is homeless, has no money for a lawyer and limited resources to get through the day, let alone navigate a successful prosecution.
Wednesday night’s attack was a low-level assault, says Mary Wheat, a public information officer with the Portland Police Bureau. “The victim has to want to press charges,” Wheat says of this case. Without a victim, “the district attorney can’t take the case because there’s no one to represent.”
That’s not how it works for all assaults. Charges are brought in domestic violence cases regardless of whether or not the victim agrees. The same goes for assaults on children. Shootings would be handled differently, too, Wheat says.
The homeless are particularly vulnerable to low-level assaults like the one I witnessed. As the Mercury reported in February 2008, more than 40 percent of Portland’s homeless have sustained concussions from being attacked while sleeping. That the attack on Lundahl happened when he was awake makes it all the more brazen and frightening.
It’s scary that we’re willing to let people keep walking the streets when the most vulnerable of victims decide not to press charges. How does that help the rest of us?
I’d rather hang out with the homeless thief than the violent group sheep.
Was it like that scene in Clockwork Orange where Alex beats up the homeless dude under the bridge?
Mizzzzzzz, apparently the group sheep were the ones stealing (or trying to steal? although it’s not clear from who), not the homeless dude. He was trying to intervene, which makes him the homeless Batman.
I would totally hang with homeless Batman.
i was dtown once and saw a “frat boy” type attempting to pee on a crippled homeless guy.. i yelled at him and he and his buddies wanted to fight me. there was no way i was letting a bunch of punks pee on that guy, even if they beat the crap out of me.. they were of course all talk.
Thanks Sean! Homeless are the potential watchers working free to spot real crime. Let’s create a space for them, give them some warm uniforms /phones, credit them and create a mission. Think outside boxes commissioners Fish and Saltzman, Portland can do it.
Where is the confirmation that he was homeless?
You assume because he has ratty pants and a poncho?
So you want the police to have all that much more power to prosecute?
D-
He told the officer he was homeless during his comments. Should’ve made that clear. Thanks.
Sean
The DA can prosecute if they want to as long as they have a witness, i.e. you.
No kidding. It’s a crime to violently attack someone. And there’s a witness.
Yes, arrest is the decision of the officer-in-charge, and prosecution is a decision of the district attorney. Seems like A made a significant assumption about the interest of B.
The victim may choose later to be a witness, or not. Their choice should be respected, but seems immaterial to the decision of the officer-in-charge who had other options.
Your wondering is going in the right direction. For safety sake, follow up Sean, and write about it.
Ask Mike Reese, central precinct commander, if it’s the policy of the PPB to not arrest those who assault another person. Tell him you’ll be a witness to the assault and ask for them to make an arrest. If it is the policy of the PPB to not arrest on assault charges, how was that determined? Ask the DA if they give the PPB instructions about what sort of arrests they’d like to see more often.
What he said.
Thank you Sean. Tom is my brother. Our family’s worries for him are endless, as his path for illumination and life fulfillment have taken him on a journey few of us would dare to embrace as fully as he has. He received his engineering degree from Harvey Mudd College, one of the best engineering schools in the country, he’s held jobs and positions of responsibility that most people dream of achieving; and yet, he feels most alive when living as a nomad with no resource. You should have interviewed him for his story … he is a diamond in the rough … his European and African experiences alone, are amazing.
Thank you for helping a tattered book cover, independent of knowning the rich story that it contained!