PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland police are asking for the public's help to find the person who threw a metal water bottle at a woman's head in an apparently random attack at a downtown Portland light rail station.
Mary Costantino told KGW she and a male friend were walking past the Providence Park MAX station near Southwest 17th Avenue and Yamhill Street at 10:50 p.m. Friday when the man abruptly threw the metal bottle at her face, striking her hard enough to cause her to lose consciousness, according to a Portland Police Bureau news release. The man didn't know Costantino.
"It seemed a very pointed, focused attack on me out of literally nowhere," Costantino said. "He was yelling, 'You know what she did!' or, 'You know what happened!' So I think he was having a psychotic break and I was somebody else in his mind."
Security footage released by police shows Costantino and her friend walking along the sidewalk opposite the platform. The suspect can be seen stepping out from under the platform shelter and onto the tracks before throwing the bottle, causing Costantino to fall against the adjacent building wall and the man to lose his balance. She suffered a concussion and several cuts and bruises on her face after the water bottle ricocheted off her head, landing about 20 feet away.
"The physical strength that people have when they're having psychotic episodes or addicted, it's a surreal strength," said Costantino, who is a physician.
"We have a really big public crisis here; I don't think any of us are safe," Costantino said. "I think we don't have long to turn it around. I think we need to stop dabbling in trial programs and we need to get real clear that if you are having a psychotic break or you are on drugs, you are not on our streets. And that is not said with a political slant, that's just said as public safety first."
In the video, after the attack, the suspect steps back onto the platform and then crosses the tracks toward the couple a few seconds later, and the man stands up and positions himself between the woman and the suspect. The suspect then veers off down the sidewalk, walking out of the frame. Police said he left the area heading east on Yamhill Street.
Police released two surveillance video screenshots of the suspect and described him as a white man in his 20s or 30s, last seen wearing a dark flannel jacket with a dark hood, a black shirt with a white logo on the chest, black pants and carrying a backpack.
Anyone with information about the assault or knowledge of the suspect's identity is asked to contact PPB Detective Matt Brown at matthew.brown@police.portlandoregon.gov or email crimetips@portlandoregon.gov and reference case number 23-198256.