PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A 35-year-old year old man is charged with a hate crime after he yelled “America deserves better” at a Hispanic woman while jumping on her car and reportedly threatening to kill her earlier this week.
Police were called out to the intersection of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Northeast Oregon Street on April 25 on reports that a woman had been attacked.
When police arrived, they found the alleged victim who was crying and very distraught. The woman was visibly shaking, crying and quivering when she recounted what happened.
The woman told officers that she had just gotten into her car after finishing work. As she did, she noticed a vehicle creep up behind her. The driver of the other vehicle stopped about a foot away from the woman’s rear bumper, according to police.
The driver of the other vehicle, later identified as Joseph S. Leineweber, walked directly in front of the woman’s vehicle and started taking pictures of her in the driver’s seat as well as pictures of her front license plate.
Leineweber then put his hands on the hood of the woman’s vehicle and yelled “America deserves better” and proceeded to jump on the hood of the woman’s car, according to court documents.
The woman described being terrified as Leineweber was jumping on her vehicle’s hood, records show.
Leineweber then started hitting the woman’s window while yelling, “I’m going to f-cking kill you, you dirty Mexican,” according to court documents. The woman says she feared for her life.
An employee at a nearby auto dealer corroborated most of the woman’s claims, records show.
Police recovered a bottle that Leineweber may have used to threaten the woman with. Detectives have sent the bottle to the crime lab, according to court documents.
Leineweber was arrested by assault detectives on April 26 when he appeared at the Justice Center to be arraigned on a harassment charge that happened one hour after the reported hate crime attack. Specific details of that incident have not been released.
However, court documents show that Leineweber, on April 25, “did unlawfully and intentionally harass and annoy” a male subject by subjecting him to offensive physical contact.
Jail booking records show that the alleged victim in the harassment case may be a Southeast Portland “neighborhood pastor.”
He is charged with first-degree criminal mischief, menacing, and two counts of second-degree intimidation. Leineweber has pleaded not guilty to both cases. He was released from jail on his own recognizance and is due back in court on May 5.
Under Oregon law, intimidation in the second-degree is considered a hate crime and is a Class A misdemeanor.WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON:
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