North Portland Driver Kicked 15-Year-Old in Head on MAX Tracks, Gets 40 Months

Although grainy and taken from a distance, the video shows an ugly scene play out at the Rose Quarter MAX station last Jan. 11:

An unidentified man punches a 15-year-old Benson Polytechnic High School student in the head, then pulls him onto the MAX tracks and onto his knees. The man kicks the boy in the head, then leaves. The boy lies stunned on the tracks as seconds tick on by. Finally, he gets up and stumbles to safety.

Monday, that man — eventually identified as 26-year-old Quincy Tremaine Wynn — was sentenced to 3 1/3 years in prison in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

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Investigators say Wynn lost his temper because he believed Kuehl was taking too much time to cross North Interstate Avenue. Kuehl was on his way home from a wrestling tournament and was crossing with the walk signal. Wynn was one of at least two drivers waiting for Kuehl to cross the street so they could turn right.

The boy continued onto the Rose Quarter/Interstate MAX platform.

Investigators say Wynn pulled up alongside Kuehl and yelled something at him, but Kuehl didn’t hear because he was wearing ear buds. He asked, “What?”

Wynn, who claimed that the boy said something more, then jumped out of the silver Toyota Avalon he was driving and ran onto the platform. {snip}

At Wynn’s sentencing hearing, Kuehl’s parents spoke of how their son has paid dearly for Wynn’s outburst. The teen, then a freshman at Benson, missed about a month of school. He spent much of the time in his darkened bedroom, enduring painful headaches made worse by light or sound. Even after returning to school, he spent his afternoons and evenings in his bedroom.

His grades have suffered because he has difficulty concentrating, his parents say.

He still wakes in the middle of the night sweating and screaming in agony. His father says he gives him Advil and tells him to take cold showers.

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Wynn didn’t offer an explanation, but looked solemn as he offered these words: “I’d just like to apologize to the family. I didn’t know he was 15. I’m sorry.”

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{snip} He was charged with second-degree assault and tampering with evidence, for allegedly discussing with his girlfriend a plan to destroy text messages about the crime.

And the reason he was driving by the Rose Garden Arena? His girlfriend was inside watching the Blazers play the Orlando Magic. She’d made a sign proclaiming her affection for Orlando player Dwight Howard but she left it in her car, and arena security wouldn’t let her return to the game if she left to get it. So she phoned Wynn, asking him to travel to the arena to retrieve the sign and meet her at the exit.

She told police he appeared drunk and was angry at her, but he retrieved the sign for her anyway. He walked away with her car keys, driving off a short while later and encountering Kuehl in the crosswalk.

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