Portland police have identified the white man suspected of brutally beating a Black food truck owner while allegedly yelling slurs.
On Thursday, the Portland Police Bureau issued a press release requesting public assistance to find a man identified as Daniel Thomas Warren. An officer investigating the case spoke to witnesses and was able to get video evidence of the attack, but police said efforts to locate and arrest Warren have been unsuccessful.
While working at LoRell’s Chicken Shack on June 15, Darell Preston was attacked by a man he didn’t know, according to his attorney Alicia LeDuc Montgomery. Montgomery claimed the attacker screamed the N-word during the assault, and video footage she provided to The Daily Beast showed the suspect walking away after stomping and beating Preston as if nothing happened. Montgomery said Preston suffered “severe facial injuries” and his wife drove him to the hospital after first responders failed to provide any medical assistance.
However, police countered that they had to convince Preston to come out from his food truck to speak to them after the attack.
“They immediately offered to summon EMS, but he declined,” Portland police said, according to the press release issued Thursday. “When the officer asked for more detail on what happened, the victim declined to say more and locked himself in the cart.”
Montgomery claimed her client was too scared to talk.
The Portland Police Bureau previously told The Daily Beast that it was investigating the attack as a hate crime.
“Any arrest must be based on probable cause and will stand up to scrutiny in any future criminal court proceeding,” Portland police spokesperson Sgt. Kevin Allen wrote in an email. “A misstep now could prevent justice from being served later, and we have dedicated and professional detectives working hard to do things right.”
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