The man told the family to get out of the United States
A 35-year-old man in Oregon has been accused of yelling racial slurs at an Indian family on a MAX train a month ago.
Steven Klopp was arrested and faces accusations of second-degree intimidation and harrasment, OregonLive reported.
According to the report, the Indian family, a Portland State University graduate and her parents, were traveling on a MAX Green Line train near Southwest 5th Avenue and Jackson street while a man with a blue guitar boarded and soon after started yelling at them.
The man told the family to get out of the United States and at one point spat on the PSU graduate’s mother’s dress; the website quoted the 22-year-old victim, who requested anonymity.
“My mom was freaking out. I’m the only one of us who speaks English, but it’s clear that he is aggressive for no reason,” the graduate, who was born in India and left to pursue a psychology degree at Portland State, told OregonLive. “In my mind, I’m thinking about the people who were stabbed on the MAX, and I’m panicking because I don’t know if this person has any weapons on him and planning to attack us.”
The woman said that the incident lasted five to ten minutes and no other passengers intervened. As the woman tried to contact the MAX train operator and called 911 he got upset and left at a stop near Southwest 6th Avenue and Madison Street.
A complaint was filed with TriMet but received no response, the woman said adding that she then reported the incident to the campus public safety office on July 14.
However, Klopp denied the allegations and said in the affidavit that the woman was the one who crossed the line. His mother also defended him saying that her son has schizoaffective disorder and the incident was a result of his mental health issues.