PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) – A Portland man says he was attacked for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat at a local bar. But the bar owner says that’s not the full story.
A surveillance camera shows what happened right before a late-night rumble on Hawthorne.
Luke Lenzner was doing a date night with his wife. They were trying to make their way into Growlers Tap Room in southeast Portland.
Lenzner said right when they got there they were attacked outside the patio by people upset with the hat. “I got mobbed by everybody that was in that bar outside and people came from the inside out and. just circled me and my wife.”
Security camera footage provided by the bar shows the couple did try and make their way in but it didn’t appear to be very busy. In fact, bar staff said they were already done serving for the night and that they told the couple they were closing.
Lenzner attests things escalated between people outside the bar. That’s when police say these two seen here assaulted Lenzner and his wife.
“Like literally surrounding me pushing me,” Lenzner said. “I’m just trying to get through trying to get stop the person from hitting me taking my hat and then I get sucker punch.”
The police arrived at 12:50 a.m. But they said the suspects had already left.
Lenzner, bloodied, was able to give police a license plate number and a few blocks away.
They made an arrest: Leopold Hauser, 22 and Adebisi Okuneye, 23, were both arrested and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of assault in the third degree. They’re expected to be arraigned Monday.
Witnesses, including the bartender, said Lenzner was the one who started it. You can see where he points to his hat and says something as they left after being told the bar was closed. Witnesses say that switch started at all.
Ultimately, however, police said Lenzner never involved himself physically in the altercation.
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