Out-of-control smoker riding MAX slashes passenger

Here’s what disrupted service on the TriMet MAX Light Rail line in outer East Portland on Saturday evening …

While other Portland Police Bureau officers are trying to locate a knife-wielding man who slashed a passenger, an ambulance and an officer remain at the scene.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

A disturbance on the TriMet MAX Light Rail Green Line disrupted service, and left a man wounded the late afternoon of August 6.

Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers were dispatched to the Holgate Boulevard Station at 6:55 p.m. on this “TriMet Incident-with Weapon” call. Six PPB units, including a K9 team and “Air2”, the airborne reconnaissance unit, responded.

An officers speaks with the slashing victim who is inside this ambulance.

An ambulance was stopped in the TriMet park-and-ride at Holgate Station with patient inside who appeared to have a knife slash on his left cheek.

Apparently the commotion began further south along the line at the Flavel Street Station.

Witnesses who spoke with East Portland News had differing accounts of what transpired during the incident. However, PPB Public Information Officer Lt. Nathan Sheppard clarified what took place.

A witness talks with an officer at the MAX station.

“The train’s conductor stopped the train because someone was smoking,” Lt. Sheppard began.

“The suspect became agitated, and another rider attempted to calm him. As the victim continued calming efforts, the suspect pulled out a knife and used it to cut the victim,” Lt. Sheppard said. “From the report, it looks like the cut was to the victim’s arm; the victim had to be transported to the hospital.”

Officers apprehended a person matching the description of the slasher, “but there was no consensus on whether he was, indeed, the suspect,” Lt. Sheppard went on. “However, officers booked that man on an outstanding warrant [for an unrelated crime], and will hand the case over to detectives for follow-up.”

Comments are closed.