A trucker has been charged with a hate crime after being accused of stabbing a Black man in an attack at an Oregon truck stop saying he did the act because he doesn’t “like Black people.”
26-year-old Nolan Levi Strauss of Colorado was indicted by a federal grand jury for the December 2019 stabbing attack on a 48-year-old Black man who was applying for a job at an Arby’s restaurant at the Pilot Travel Center truck stop in Ontario according to federal prosecutors. The victim has been identified as Ronnell Tyrone Hughes, was in the restaurant’s lobby waiting for a manager when Strauss approached him from behind without any warning and stabbed him in the neck, prosecutors said.
Hughes was able to get away from Strauss who was stopped by an Arby worker with a belt but was still cut twice on his neck. Hughes was “bleeding everywhere” according to The Oregonian.
Strauss was asked by the employee why he attacked Hughes, he said it was because he was Black and “I don’t like black people,” federal prosecutors said.
Strauss, who at the time worked for May Trucking Company had been living in his commercial vehicle at the truck stop before the stabbing, The Oregonian reported.
According to an affidavit, Strauss told cops he intended to kill Hughes, who was flown to Boise for emergency surgery after the incident. Strauss has a history of mental illness while he lived in Nebraska when he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016. However, he stopped taking his medication according to the affidavit. Strauss is set to make his first federal court appearance on Oct. 19 and faces up to life in prison if convicted.
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