John Blackmore, a 64-year-old White man, is facing criminal charges after being identified by police as attempting to hit a Black woman with his car as she waited at her son’s apartment complex in Hillsboro, Oregon.
On June 1, a 78-year-old Black woman was waiting in her car for her son at his apartment complex when she became the victim of a racially-motivated crime, police say.
According to police reports, Blackmore had just gotten into a car nearby, and the woman moved her vehicle to allow him to exit. However, instead of leaving, Blackmore drove his car at the woman while yelling, narrowly missing her. The man then turned his car around and tried to hit the woman’s vehicle again. She exited the car because she thought the man might hit her, according to police. The man then left his car as well and approached her aggressively on foot.
Reports say the woman’s son saw what was happening from the apartment building and ran downstairs to the parking lot, where he stood between the man and his mother to protect her.
As the man yelled racial slurs and profanities at the mother and son, a couple watching the incident from their apartment called 911. When one of the neighbors also came down to the parking lot, Blackmore got back in his vehicle and drove off.
Blackmore was later identified by a partial license plate number, arrested, and charged with two counts of second-degree bias crime and two counts of harassment. If convicted, he could face up to three years of prison time and $17,500 in fines.
