A Black man in Eugene, Oregon, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Tuesday alleging he was racially profiled, assaulted and detained at a county fair by vigilante volunteers with the local sheriff’s civilian “posse” who were armed and dressed like cowboys and suspected he was involved in a shooting the night before.
Keviantae “Kev” Hill, then 20, lived in Portland and was in Eugene visiting two friends on July 22, 2023, when they decided to go to the Lane County Fair. After checking out the horses and large animals, riding the ferris wheel and noshing on fair food, the lawsuit (obtained by Atlanta Black Star) says, the three took a break at his friend’s house nearby for a few hours.
Soon after they reentered the fair, around 9:30 p.m., two men began following Hill in a golf cart, pointing flashlights at him and trying to get his attention by calling out, “hey” and “excuse me,” and saying they needed to talk to him, the complaint says, but not identifying or explaining themselves.
One grabbed his arm, and another placed his hand on a visible gun, prompting Hill to fear for his safety and to run back towards the fair’s main entrance and through the parking lot, jump over a fence and continue fleeing on public streets…