PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Two people are facing assault charges after a man says he was punched outside a Southeast Portland bar. The conflict allegedly stemmed over the “Make America Great Again” hat the victim was wearing.
According to a probably cause statement from the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, the man police are identifying as the victim and his wife went to the Growler’s Taproom sometime after midnight Saturday. The wife told police she was “curious of how people in Portland would treat her husband” while he was wearing the hat. The alleged victim said that he was walking on the sidewalk next to the bar when two people confronted him. According to court documents, he said the defendant Adebisi Okuneye “got in his face and he pushed her back to create distance.”
That’s when the alleged victim said “Leopold Hauser,” the second suspect, punched him in the face. The victim’s wife told police that Okuneye also punched her husband. The victim said both defendants got into a gold van and drove away, but they took a photo of the license plate and called police.
Police found both suspects. According to court documents, Hauser gave a different account of events, saying he and Okuneye were sitting outside the bar with friends when the man walked by. Hauser allegedly told police he “disagreed with the political statement of the hat and that they were ‘mean mugging’” the victim. Hauser said the man asked if they liked the hat, and a verbal fight started, according to court documents. Hauser said the other man and Okuneye were getting into each other’s faces and that he got in between them “to stop the fighting, that victim took a fighting stance, and that arms were flying everywhere.”
Okuneye described the events as starting when the man came out of the bar and said, “B**** do you like my hat.” She allegedly told police a verbal argument started and that she did not know who punched the man.
Okuneye and Hauser are both charged with one count of assault in the third degree.
