The Portland Police Bureau is now on the hunt for 25-year-old Marquise Love, known by friends as ‘Keese Love’, for his apparent involvement in the vicious attack on Sunday
Portland Police have identified a suspect in a sickening attack on a truck driver over the weekend, who was seen in a viral video being knocked unconscious by a kick to the head from a protester while he was trying to stop a transgender woman from being robbed.
The Portland Police Bureau is now on the hunt for 25-year-old Marquise Love, known by friends as ‘Keese Love’, for his apparent involvement in the vicious attack on Sunday.
Police said the victim – who has since been identified by police as Adam Haner – was trying to help a transgender woman who had some of her belongings stolen at the scene.
‘That person has not been contacted and their identity is unknown. Investigators would like to speak to this person,’ police said in a statement Tuesday.
Police say they have left Love a number of messages, urging him to hand himself in, but have so far received no response. They say they have a probable cause for his arrest.
The incident took place shortly before 10:30pm Sunday, just blocks away from a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Oregon’s capital outside of the federal courthouse.
Police received a 911 call from a bystander who reported that a group of protesters were ‘chasing a white Ford’ four-by-four truck, which then crashed into a tree in the downtown area, a press release says.
A rioter wearing a shirt with the word ‘Security’ on it, delivered a sickening kick to the man’s head from behind as he sat facing the other way in Portland, Oregon on Sunday night. Police say that man is ‘Keese’ Love (shown right)
The man was rushed to hospital after being kicked. He has since been released and is recovering, police said
In the footage, demonstrators are seen hauling the man out from his truck and throwing him to the ground. The victim appeared dazed and was profusely bleeding from the head.
He was ordered to sit on the ground and told to ‘wait for police to arrive.’ The man, who some activists claimed had driven towards them, was then knocked clean unconscious by a vicious kick to the side of his head from behind.
As he lay unconscious on the ground, shouts of ‘Black Lives Matter’ were heard as other protesters attempted to provide first aid.
Others began ransacking the man’s truck and when questioned by bystanders, they explained that they were simply ‘checking for weapons.’
Police said they received another call estimating that around nine or 10 people were ‘beating the guy’ as he lay in the street.
A post allegedly uploaded to Love’s Snapchat account the same evening appeared to reference the attack, in which he wrote: ‘Might go to jail for a racist tonight when all i did was fight him look it up on twitter put money on my books and come see me.’
By the time police arrived on scene the suspect had disappeared and the victim was unconscious on the ground. He was taken to hospital but has since been released and is now recovering, police say.
In the fundraiser, set up by his brother Brian (left), Haner is said to have suffered a number of injuries, in addition to unspecified items being stolen from his truck
Drew Hernandez, who shot the graphic footage of the attack, shared the same theory as the police, claiming the victim was defending the transgender woman from being beaten and robbed by protesters, when the group turned their attention to the truck driver and his female companion.
Drew Hernandez, who filmed the incident on his cell phone, has spoken of his experience of being in Portland on Sunday night, saying ‘sometimes it feels like you’re walking in a Third World country’
The unnamed man then got into his truck and drove away as he and the woman became a target, but crashed in the pursuit, Hernandez said.
‘I think he just felt extremely threatened,’ Hernandez said in an interview. ‘They chased him… until he finally crashed. When they finally caught up to him, they went nuts.
‘This was violent, extremely violent,’ he said. ‘Sometimes I forget I’m walking the streets of an American city in the Northwest. Sometimes it feels like you’re walking in a Third World county.’
Earlier footage shows the truck parked outside a 7-Eleven, with some rioters kicking it and attacking the man through the window, as others shout, ‘He didn’t do nothing.’
Hernandez said that after violence erupted on Sunday – which has become a nightly occurrence in the city – groups of protesters have attacked random bystanders.
‘It’s literally like just one thing after another,’ he said. ‘Just these random people, they start physically assaulting.’
Sgt. Kevin Allen, a police spokesman, said that the rioters ‘were chasing the truck before it crashed, and they assaulted the driver after the crash.’
Allen said that officers ‘encountered a hostile crowd and a squad from the Rapid Response Team responded to help secure the scene while the investigation was underway.’
Police said they have not yet been able to identify the transgender woman who may have been robbed.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Detective Brent Christensen at 503-823-2087 or at [email protected].