A shocking doorbell video in Oregon captures a man repeatedly hurling racist slurs and threatening to rape and murder a black mother and daughter who live inside the apartment.
The man seen on video was identified as Dominic Austin, 19. He’s facing charges in the case that began on June 29 when he is allegedly seen shirtless, repeatedly pounding on the door as he approaches his neighbor’s front door, holding a knife.
“Literally at my door with a knife, calling me racial slurs, telling me he was going to murder me,” Nubrittany Smith told Law&Crime. “I honestly didn’t know how to react.”
Smith and her mother, Tasha, were on the receiving end of it for weeks after they moved into their Gresham apartment, she said. Smith said Austin lived on the floor above her, and she and her mother lived in absolute terror.
“I was upset,” she said. “It was not OK for him to come to my door at all. I have a lot of anxiety that’s been building. I have trouble sleeping at night.”
Smith says she notified the management at her apartment complex and the police, but nothing was immediately done. Officers eventually responded to her apartment, reviewed videos and spoke to the tenant and “pretty much that was the end of everything,” she said.
“I felt that my word didn’t matter,” she said. “I felt being a black woman, I was looked through.
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“He was literally at my door with a knife, calling me racial slurs, telling me he was going to murder me.”
Smith’s lawyer said he plans to file a civil lawsuit seeking punitive damages against Austin, the owner of the apartment complex and the Gresham Police Department in the coming weeks.
“The landlord did nothing for months while these women were huddled in their apartment, terrified by a guy who was repeatedly trying to get in, jiggling the door trying to see if the door was unlocked, threatening them with a knife, making stabbing gestures calling them racist names, threatening their lives threatening to rape them,” said attorney Greg Kafoury. “When the police came, they didn’t do anything. They talked to the guy, and he said something like, ‘Well, I’ve got an appointment with a counselor in a few days,’ and they said, ‘Well, it’s a mental health problem, not a criminal problem.””
Austin reportedly was asked to vacate the apartment complex on Sept. 8. He was arrested on Sept. 20, months after his threats to rape and kill Smith and her mother. He faces two counts of menacing, one count of unlawful use of a weapon and more than 10 counts of violating a stalking protective order.
The Gresham Police Department said in a statement it is “aware of the terrible conduct of the suspect in this case, including statements that indicate the motivation for the crime is hate or bias.”
“We share in our communities’ concern and appreciate the unique impact bias crimes, in particular, have on victims,” the statement said. “Although the suspect has been arrested and is currently in custody, the investigation is continuing. We are working with the district attorney’s office to ensure the suspect is charged with the appropriate crimes.”
Law&Crime’s Elizabeth Millner contributed to this report.
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