PORTLAND, Ore. — Authorities are looking for a man who punched two men in downtown Portland, in what is believed to be an unprovoked attack.
"It was very shocking and very surprising," said Jason Eckeberger, one of the men who was assaulted.
Eckeberger is still in disbelief over what happened on the morning of Jan. 20. Eckeberger was standing outside the Embassy Suites downtown and talking to the valet when a man approached from across the street. That hooded man took a swing and knocked out Eckeberger before throwing another punch at the valet, who came to Eckeberger's defense. Eckeberger owns a business nearby was not staying at the hotel at the time.
"I thought maybe something on the building hit me or someone's car hit me," Eckeberger said. "I had no idea someone had punched me."
Eckeberger, who fractured his kneecap in the fall to the pavement, said he does not know the man who attacked him and that the assault was unprovoked.
"He's listening to his music," Eckeberger said of the suspect in the video. "He's either smoking a cigarette or put something in his hand to pack his punch, and was totally casual about the whole thing."
"I wouldn't say it happens everyday, but certainly when it does happen it's very concerning," said Sgt. Kevin Allen of the Portland Police Bureau.
PPB's Neighborhood Response Team is chasing down leads in the case. Police need the public's help, too.
"We certainly hope that through [media] coverage and just from investigation, we can determine who's responsible for that and arrested and referred to charges," Allen said.
"We are aware that a video has been made public showing a portion of an altercation between two non-guests and a third party employee outside of our hotel. We are working with our third party valet company to investigate this incident further," a spokesperson for the hotel said in a statement to KGW.
Eckeberger, who owns JE Salon in downtown Portland, is hoping the attacker is captured sooner rather than later. He fears what happened to him and the valet will happen again.
"We need to get this guy," Eckeberger said. "He'll do it to someone else. He was way too casual with this thing. It wasn't a big thing to him."
Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the Portland Police Bureau.