PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Colorado man has been indicted on federal hate crime charges after a Black man was stabbed in the neck in an eastern Oregon restaurant, prosecutors said.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports a grand jury in Eugene this week indicted 26-year-old Nolan Strauss on one charge of committing a hate crime involving an attempt to kill. Court documents say on Dec. 21, 2019 the 48-year-old victim was in Ontario, Oregon, waiting in the Arby’s lobby where he was applying for a job.
Strauss came up from behind and stabbed the man in the neck, prosecutors said. The attack was “unprovoked and without warning,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
A struggle ensued and the man freed himself while Strauss was restrained by Arby’s employees. When asked why he had attacked the man, Strauss told an employee “I don’t like Black people,” prosecutors said.
The victim was flown to an Idaho hospital where he had surgery for two lacerations to his neck.
Strauss is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Oct. 20 and could face a life sentence in federal prison if convicted. It wasn’t immediately known if he has a lawyer to comment on his case.