Authorities are looking into the Portland incident as a possible hate crime after the top Japanese diplomat in Oregon was violently shoved to the ground without cause by a homeless woman.
According to recently made public court documents, Yoshioka Yuzo, the 62-year-old consul general for Portland’s Consular Office of Japan, was walking on June 17 when he was “jumped” and forced to the ground.
The ambassador, who has been assigned to Portland since March, cut his head and needed to be treated at a hospital. βThe poor guy just went down,β eyewitness R.D. LipscombΒ told the station KGW8. βIt looked pretty bad.β
When the police arrived, they saw Yuzo bleeding heavily from a head wound. The high-ranking official claimed that the downward pressure was “unprovoked.”
Arissa Robinson, 23, the alleged assailant of the consul general, was discovered hiding inside the US Bancorp Tower a short while afterward.
Robinson, a homeless person, was arrested for an assault and a hate crime and lodged in the county jail. As of Thursday, she was still detained without being given a bond.
The tweet below confirms the news:
Top Japanese diplomat assaulted by woman in Oregon in anti-Asian attack: docs https://t.co/FirVynRe6x pic.twitter.com/goZBwLqxrF
— New York Post (@nypost) July 20, 2023
Charges Dropped Against Woman
According to court documents, Robinson’s assault on the Japanese ambassador was part of a “broader pattern” of his violent behavior toward people of Asian heritage.
According to court records quoted by station KPIC, she was detained in August 2022 after being accused of repeatedly striking a 76-year-old Asian man in the head and placing him in a chokehold that cut off his air supply and prevented him from yelling for aid. The charges against her for harassment and strangling were dropped in January.
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A year earlier, Robinson was βflipping people offβ in Portlandβs China Town when she allegedly attacked a mother and child, kicking over a baby stroller with a 1-year-old inside. She was quoted as telling cops, βThey were in the way so they got decked β¦ I meant to do it.β
According to a motion made by the woman’s attorney, although Robinson was detained in that attack, the charges against her were withdrawn on the same day as the counts related to the 2022 incident because a judge deemed Robinson unfit to stand trial.
Weβll update you if this news changes. Visit our websiteΒ FocushillsboroΒ for the latest news on this issue.
