PORTLAND, Ore. — The family of one of the victims of a deadly attack on a MAX train in 2017 has filed a $10.1 million lawsuit against TriMet and Portland police for not taking previous action against Jeremy Christian that they say could have prevented the fatal assault.
Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche was one of three people who intervened when Christian allegedly spewed hate speech at two black teenage girls on a MAX Green Line train in Portland on May 26, 2017. Police say Christian responded by stabbing all three men, leaving 23-year-old Namkai-Meche and 53-year-old Ricky John Best dead. The third victim, 21-year-old Micah Fletcher, was wounded but survived.
Portland MAX attack: What we know
According to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Multnomah County court, Namkai-Meche’s family says TriMet and Portland police were previously aware of Christian’s behavior, and were negligent for not intervening.
The lawsuit says the day before the deadly attack, Christian “terrorized passengers” on MAX trains on two separate occasions. One incident occurred on a Yellow Line train. According to the lawsuit, Christian spewed hate speech, threatened to kill anyone who got in his way, and assaulted an African American woman. The woman tried to alert TriMet’s train operator, and once off the train, pointed out Christian to a Portland police officer who did not investigate the incident further, the lawsuit said.
Christian also ranted hate speech on a Blue Line train and threatened to stab anyone who tried to stop him, according to the lawsuit. Passengers alerted the train operator, who took no action, the lawsuit said.
Those two incidents are examples of how TriMet and Portland police were negligent and foreseeably caused Namkai-Meche’s death, his family says.
KGW reached out to TriMet for comment. The agency said it does not respond to pending litigation.
Jeremy Christian’s trial on aggravated murder charges was postponed earlier this month until January 2020.
