A Gresham man is being investigated for a hate crime, after the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office charged him with second-degree intimidation and menacing on Monday.
Michael James Black, 64, was arrested on May 11 after he allegedly threatened and yelled racial slurs at a black teenage boy the previous night.
According to Gresham Police spokesman Ben Costigan, the 14-year-old boy was riding his bicycle near Black’s house on Northeast Glisan Street around 9:30 p.m. on May 10. The boy said he was riding in circles, when Black allegedly threatened the boy.
“He called him a racial slur, and said he was going to blow his head off,” Costigan said.
According to a probable cause statement released by the district attorney’s office, the teen was riding his bike home with a couple of friends after basketball practice, and the two friends were on foot. He said he was riding his bike in a circle to let his friends catch up, and they were walking in a cul-de-sac that the boy thought was public. The teen said that Black, who was sitting in a chair in the carport, yelled that the area was private property, and then yelled the racial slur and threats. He said he got scared that Black was going to get a gun, so he rode home, where his mother called the police. He said they were about 30 to 40 feet apart for the whole encounter.
When police interviewed Black, he said the teen got onto his property and got into an argument with him, including yelling at him and flipping him off. Black said he told the teen to leave his property, and admitted to using some racially-charged language. Black also told police he thought the teen had a knife, but admitted that he couldn’t see well, and that the teen was 30 to 40 feet away.
The boy and his family live in the same area as Black, but Costigan said they did not know each other.
Costigan said Black was arrested the next morning. He said he has been arrested before, but not for similar crimes.
— Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR
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