A Portland man has been arrested after biting a Black man and attempting to stab him with scissors.
Payton Thomas said he was visiting a friend on Saturday (Feb. 10) when he noticed a man, identified as Corey A. Nesenson, lighting clothes on fire in Portland’s Old Town Neighborhood.
“About a third of the way into the block that we were on, he stopped and started lighting a fire,” Thomas said.
Nesenson then started to follow an interracial couple, attempting to attack them.
“Jogging after them, he was really trying to attack them,” Thomas said. “The guy thankfully turned around and looked and saw him; him and the female took off running.”
Nesenson then approached Thomas and his friend.
“By the time I looked up he was too close to me to put my hands out to stop him or punch him,” Thomas said. “The only thing I could do is resort to my military training and self-defense combat, and grabbed him and slapped him to the ground.”
The Portland Police Bureau said officers witnessed Nesenson cutting Thomas with scissors, biting him, and yelling racial slurs.
“I felt the bite; I didn’t see the scissors at that time, I was just concentrating on the bite,” Thomas said. “But then as I’m reaching for his head so I can subdue him, that’s when I see the scissors. When I reached for the scissors, he tried to stab me like two or three times.”
Nesenson also allegedly spit on one of the officers. He was arrested on charges of second-degree assault, first-degree bias crime, aggravated harassment, reckless burning, and fourth-degree assault.
On Monday (February 12), Nesenson pleaded not during an arraignment. A preventative detention hearing was scheduled for Wednesday (February 14), and a grand jury will consider indictment on February 21.
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