Portland security guard to serve 7 years in prison for racial attack
PORTLAND, Ore. Sept 18 2019 A security guard was convicted and sentenced to over seven years in prison for a racially-motivated attack in August 2018.
Nathan Scates was arrested for an incident in which police said he yelled racial slurs at a Muslim family, hit a Hispanic woman with a baton and pepper-sprayed others.
Portland police said the 37-year-old was booked into the Multnomah County Jail Nov. 1, 2018, on charges of second-degree assault, second-degree intimidation and second-degree unlawful use of an electrical stun gun, tear gas or mace
Scates pleaded guilty on Monday.
The investigation started on Aug. 10, 2018, when officers responded to a public dock on the Willamette River near 1510 SW Harbor Way. Officers learned that Scates confronted several people on the dock, shouting racial and other slurs at a Muslim family. Police said he also assaulted a Hispanic woman with an Asp baton, injuring her hand.
Scates walked away from the scene while being followed by the victims as well as other people. Police said Scates pepper-sprayed two people who weren’t involved in the previous incident in an attempt to get away.
Scates was identified as the suspect after a lengthy investigation, and pleaded not guilty at his first court appearance.
He was already being held for a situation earlier in August in McMinnville. In that incident, he was in his security guard uniform when he fired his gun and shot a woman in the leg.
That situation allegedly started after he took food off someone’s plate at a table outside a restaurant. When the diner and others confronted him, he fired several shots and fled.
Once released, Scates will remain on supervision for 34 months.
KOIN
