PORTLAND, Ore. — Over the holiday weekend, seven people were arrested in Lincoln City for yelling racial slurs at a Black family and for shooting off illegal fireworks. It happened around 9:30 p.m. on the Fourth of July at the Inn At Spanish Head.
On Monday, the Lincoln City police chief said, in his time there, he’s never seen a racial incident like the one that happened over the weekend. He said it was extremely unusual.
Officers first responded to the ocean beach area outside the hotel for a disturbance call and were surrounded by “about 10 people who began taunting and challenging” the officers, police said. More police arrived and learned this same group of people also taunted and challenged a Black family staying at the inn and used Nazi salutes toward them. Officers stood in between the family and the group to allow the family to go back to their hotel room.
As this was going on, police said they saw people in the group fire off large, illegal aerial fireworks.
Several arrests were made. The Lincoln City police chief said other people who were watching actually applauded as officers arrested seven men.
Those men, all from Clark County, were charged with rioting, disorderly conduct, and the possession of illegal fireworks.
When asked why the suspects weren’t charged with a hate crime for yelling racial slurs and using Nazi salutes, the chief of police said officers filed all the charges they thought they could defend in the heat of the moment, but said the District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case and could decide to add additional charges.
The men arrested over the weekend were cited and later released. They were identified as:
Gennadiy Kachankov, 30; Antoliy Kachankov, 28; Andrey Zaytsev, 28; Oleg Saranchuk, 45; Ruslan Tkachenko, 22; and Yuriy Kachankov, 30. Another man who refused to give a name and had no ID was also arrested.
When asked why they weren’t booked into jail, authorities said it was because of the new COVID-19 restrictions at the jail. Currently, the jail is only accepting people who commit Class A or B felonies.
The group of men involved has dozens of previous criminal charges between them. One of them was charged with assault in May of 2019 for stabbing someone in the chest. In 2016, two of them were arrested for their behavior at another Lincoln City hotel.
The general manager of the Inn At Spanish Head spoke with KOIN 6 News and said the victims of the harassment are regular customers at the hotel. Management covered the family’s bill. He also said they’ve received many phone calls from people in the community who want to help the family in any way they can.