A 26-year-old man was sentenced Monday to 20 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to assault and a felony riot charge stemming from an Aug. 16 beating captured on video near a protest in Portland.
The incident brought widespread outrage from local and federal law enforcement officials and garnered national attention amid nightly racial justice protests in Portland.
In court Monday, Marquise Love apologized to his victim, who was not present, and expressed remorse, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. Love was aided by another person. But, according to the DA, Love admitted he “caused physical injury to the victim and that he and others engaged in tumultuous and violent conduct and created a grave risk of causing public alarm.”
Video from Aug. 16 that went viral on social media shows a man sitting in the street downtown outside a white pickup. He’s hit and kicked multiple times by people in a surrounding crowd. Love turned himself in days later.
“The video of this assault is violent and shocking. It outraged our community and nation. We are fortunate that the victim’s injuries were not as severe as it first appeared they may have been,” Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said in a statement. “In the days, weeks and months after this assault, detectives with the Portland Police Bureau worked quickly to identify the suspect and complete the investigation. This is a proper resolution. Marquise Love is accepting responsibility for his actions and the punishment.”
The attack became a commonly used reference point for police and national critics of racial justice protests in Portland. In the days following the attack, it even became the source of significant misinformation, with some people claiming the victim in the attack had died or was in a coma. Neither of those statements were true.
According to the district attorney’s office, the victim in the attack said he “is not seeking vengeance against Marquise Love and that he hoped Love would learn from what happened.”
In addition to his prison sentence, Love will be on probation for 36 months and must complete an alcohol abuse evaluation.