Abel Antonio Chavez-Garcia
From Portland Afoot
Abel Antonio Chavez-Garcia was a 15-year-old boy convicted of beating a 71-year-old man with a baseball bat after leaving the Gresham Central MAX station in November 2007. Chavez-Garcia was tried as an adult for the assault, according to KATU, and sentenced to 9 and 1/2 years in youth prison, according to the Oregonian.
The previous day, Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis had "said the MAX lines need a stronger police presence," according to KATU.
The incident, other crimes and surrounding media coverage led TriMet to double the size of its transit police force and improve lighting at Blue Line stations in East Portland and Gresham. By 2009, crime on TriMet had fallen by more than one-third.
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