Victim calls beating 'a cowardly act'

Laurie Chilcote says extra security, while too late for him, is badly needed

By Shannon Wells

The Gresham Outlook, Nov 13, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (6 Reader comments)

Laurie Chilcote of Sandy talks to reporters on Monday, Nov. 12, describing how on Saturday, Nov. 3, a 15-year-old boy reached into his jacket and pulled out a baseball bat, which the teen used to beat Chilcote at the Gresham Central Transit Station. A bystander intervened, which Chilcote believes may have saved his life.

John Klicker / The Gresham Outlook

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Since being assaulted at the Gresham Central Transit Station on Saturday, Nov. 3, Laurie Chilcote hasn’t been able to walk, talk or hear as well as he did before. The dried blood on his head reveals the freshness of the attack, and his energy level is clearly limited.

Still, the 71-year-old considers himself “lucky.” Were it not for a stranger concerned for his welfare that fateful night, he may not be here to tell his story.

“I was lucky, very lucky,” he said from a wheelchair at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital on Monday, Nov. 12. “The beating didn’t stop until a perfect stranger intervened. It’s too bad there’s not more out there like her. She put an end to it.”

Chilcote was released from the hospital Tuesday, Nov. 13, according to an OHSU spokesperson.

With the guidance of his sister, Caren Topliff, and family attorney Larry Sokol, Chilcote spoke to members of the media during an afternoon news conference in an OHSU conference room.

While a concerned stranger may have saved Chilcote’s life, his assailant managed to inflict a good bit of damage. Police say Abel Antonio Chavez-Garcia, 15, attacked Chilcote with a baseball bat as he exited the MAX train a little after 9 p.m.

Police arrested Chavez-Garcia as he was walking away from the Transit Center around 9:30. The Gresham resident faces charges of attempted murder, first-degree assault and first-degree criminal mischief.

During the 20-minute conference, Chilcote showed glimpses of the humor and gentle charm his family members, friends and associates have described since his assault, but the Sandy resident is clearly not out of the woods.

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