The man accused of beating another man unconscious in Portland over the weekend was taken into custody on Friday.
Marquise “Keese” Love, 25, was booked on charges of assault, coercion, and riot, jail records show.
All three crimes are felonies. If convicted of all three, the defendant faces as many as 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.
Love, a black man who weighs 150 pounds, was captured on camera beating Adam Haner, a white man, downtown on Sunday, authorities said. The assault took place after Haner crashed his truck into a tree.
Haner said Wednesday that he believes he was targeted because of his race. Love has attended at least two Black Lives Matter protests, according to his social media profile and video footage reviewed by The Epoch Times.
Witnesses told The Epoch Times that Black Lives Matter activists were behind the multiple assaults that took place on the night in question, pointing to video footage that showed the chain of events beginning when activists, including the man authorities say was Love, ejected a male from a protest outside the Multnomah County Justice Center.
That soon led to the assault of the male and a transgender female. When Haner intervened, he was targeted.
Love’s attorney coordinated with detectives and prosecutors and the suspect surrendered to the authorities on Friday morning, the Portland Police Bureau said.
“I am pleased the suspect in this case turned himself in and appreciate all of the efforts to facilitate this safe resolution,” Police Chief Chuck Lovell said in a statement. “Thank you to all of the members of the public who have provided information and tips to our investigators. Your assistance is very much appreciated.”
According to court records from Washington County, Oregon, Love was found guilty of interfering with public transportation in 2012, causing unreasonable noise with a vehicle and four driving charges in 2016, and violating the speed limit through a failure to appear in 2019.
Even in the context of near-nightly violence taking place in Oregon’s largest city since late May, the beating of Haner stood out.
Amid calls for a federal probe into the matter, Oregon’s U.S. Attorney Billy Williams said the unrest could lead to someone getting killed.
“Like many Oregonians, I was sickened by the video circulating online showing a man being pulled from his truck in Downtown Portland and beaten and kicked until he lies on the pavement unconscious. While the circumstances leading up to this brutal assault are still under state and federal review, I must condemn, in the strongest possible terms, this depraved violence,” Williams said in a statement.
“We must all continue to work together to achieve peace in the streets of Portland. If we are not successful, I fear one day soon we will wake up to news that a Portlander has been killed. We cannot let this happen,” he added.
Mayor and Police Commissioner Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, hasn’t responded to a series of inquiries about how he plans to quell the unrest. State troopers withdrew last week after the district attorney who oversees Portland announced his intention to presumptively decline to pursue a range of charges against demonstrators.
Federal officers and Portland officers were seen for the first time in weeks late Thursday working in concert, dispersing a riot outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in south Portland.
Department of Homeland Security officers and other federal agents spent much of July clashing with rioters, bringing worldwide attention on the Pacific Northwest city. Rioters have largely ignored the courthouse since early August, but have switched focus to other buildings, including a police union office and a sheriff’s office.
