PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The two men, one of whom is recovering from a brain bleed and a broken skull, remember the interaction differently at the 7-Eleven on Southeast 71st Avenue and Southeast Powell. But they do agree on one thing: at one point during their conversation the word “sketchy” was used.
A note, found taped to William Nickelby’s car windshield about an hour after he was hospitalized on Aug. 12 — according to a probable cause affidavit — alludes to that.
“Next time sir, you need to think twice about who you call sketchy,” the note read. “I just did a 25-year-stretch for murder. You got lucky — be happy you’re alive. THINK before running your mouth. I’m not out here cuz I like it.”
The man who penned that letter was arrested by Portland police on Thursday, nine days after the incident happened. Kory Thomle, 55, was booked later that day in Multnomah County Jail and charged with two counts of second-degree assault for the alleged attack that put Nickelby in the ICU — one for inflicting serious physical injury and one for use of a weapon.
Court records show Thomle was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree rape in 1992. He spent over six years in prison for those two crimes.
Nickelby, according to the affidavit filed in Multnomah County, went to the 7-Eleven — located at 7115 SE Powell Boulevard — to buy snacks. While he was heading inside, Nickelby remembers a man asking him to buy beer for him. Nickelby remembers telling the man, later identified as Thomle, that he thought the idea was sketchy.
Thomle remembered it differently. He said Nickelby “parked behind (Thomle’s) red Honda and called Mr. Thomle’s car ‘sketch’ and then called Mr. Thomle ‘sketch.'”
After that, Thomle said he went to his Honda, which he reportedly was living out of, and pulled out an aluminum bat. When Nickelby came out, Thomle said he approached him, bat in hand, and asked, “You need a bat?” He then said he dropped the bat, grabbed Nickelby’s neck and punched him.
“He said the next thing he knew, Mr. Nickelby was on the ground unconscious,” the affidavit showed, adding that Thomle admitted to taking a photo of Nickelby.
Thomle denied using the baseball bat, which is in police custody. He also admitted to writing the letter posted on Nickelby’s car. He said he wrote it to deter Nickelby from retaliation.
Thomle is being held on $500,000 bail in Multnomah County Jail.