Editor’s note: Details of the story may be disturbing to some readers.
A gruesome fight at the last stop of a light rail train in Oregon left a 78-year-old man seriously injured, with his ear chewed off and his skull exposed.
The fight happened just before 2:30 a.m. Tuesday and ended with the arrest of a 25-year-old man who recently moved to Portland from Georgia, authorities said.
Gresham police and Multnomah County deputies were called to the Cleveland Avenue MAX platform after witnesses called in a possible stabbing that caused significant bleeding. When law enforcement arrived, the suspect, later identified through fingerprints as Koryn Kraemer, was still on top of the man and still attacking, officials said.
Detectives determined the man had not been stabbed but did have his ear chewed off “and part of his face.” Emergency responders could see the victim’s skull.
Kraemer — who initially provided the name of “El Baker” — was booked on an assault charge.
Later in the day, Portland police said a man who was fighting on the train with another person near the Lloyd District fled the scene before they could arrive.
Blue line riders were concerned in the hours after the attack
“I feel like they could do a little bit better with their security to make sure things like that don’t happen,” rider Jayden Adach told KTLA sister station KOIN. “They should have patrol at least once an hour. It’s very rare to see that.”
“A few more transit police security like that, patrolling around and telling people to behave,” rider Richard Landers said. “That’s all they have to do is behave.”
After a child was pushed off a platform, local officials were asked what, specifically, they are doing to make platforms more safe.
“It’s upsetting to learn that someone was hurt by another person at the Cleveland Ave MAX Station early this morning,” a representative for TriMet, the state’s mass transit authority, said in a statement. “What happens in the community will at times happen on or near the transit system.”
