Portland man charged for violent assault on Asian woman followed by racist COVID-19 tirade

A Portland man is facing one felony count of assault and two counts of bias crimes after he assaulted an Asian-American woman on a bus while trying to pin blame on her for the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Fox12 Oregon, 39-year-old Peter Eschright was taken into custody and released after the attack on a TriMet bus last week.

Multnomah prosecutors claim Eschright entered the bus and, upon spying the unidentified woman, kicked her in both shins before berating her with racist comments related to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the report, the woman had trouble walking after the incident, but did not need to be taken to the emergency room.

After being taken into custody by Multnomah County sheriff's deputies, Eshright was charged with the bias crimes as well as one count of felony assault in the fourth degree, which could be lowered to a lesser charge at the prosecutor's discretion.

He was then released.