Scott Smith was expecting a nice, quiet breakfast with his wife on Saturday morning at The Pheasant on Main Street. It turned out to be anything but.
Smith says he was approached by a stranger who said, “I think you’re the guy I’m looking for.” Smith said he had no clue who the man was or what he was referring to. According to Smith, the stranger said his girlfriend didn’t come home the prior night and that she has “a thing for guys with beards.”
Smith has a beard but told the man that he didn’t know what he was talking about, and that he was home all night with his wife. The man then walked away but came back a short time later to ask where the nearest feed store is located.
“I was just beginning to point in the direction of Highway 395 when he started punching me in the face,” said Smith. “I cover up, but he gets in a few more blows.”
Smith said his wife started screaming for someone to call 911.
“No one does a thing, so my wife makes the call,” said Smith.
At some point, according to Smith, an employee told the stranger to leave the premises.
But why the employee told the man to leave is in dispute. Smith said the employee was looking out for the stranger as if she was telling him to leave or he will be in trouble with the police.
Pheasant owner Cherie Bumpaous says that was not the case at all. According to Bumpaous, the employee was merely ordering the unruly man out of the establishment.
Bumpaous also said it wasn’t true that no one was concerned enough to call the police.
“The waitress had just come around the corner with her hands full of plates when this started,” Bumpaous said. “She was in shock. By the time she put the plates down, the wife was already on the phone.”
Bumpaous said the man, Victor Snell, was known to the staff at the Pheasant for causing trouble and shouldn’t have been in there in the first place as he had been banned from the premises. She also said Pheasant employees provided the police with Snell’s address, something they wouldn’t have done if they were trying to protect him.
“We did everything we could to control this,” she said.
Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said officers made contact with Snell, who is from Wasco County and has a long criminal record, and were assured he would turn himself in. That didn’t happen. Edmiston said HPD contacted his probation officer and sent a report to the city prosecutor.
Snell was arrested in The Dalles Thursday afternoon and Edmiston said the city prosecutor who will ultimately decide what, if any, charges will be filed.
Since the incident, Bumpaous called the Smith home and reached his wife to ask if Smith was OK and to let him know Snell shouldn’t have been in there in the first place.
“Like really?” said Smith. “You say he has a ban from your establishment? Then why did your employees allow him to be there?”
Meanwhile, Smith said the incident has left him a little paranoid.
“I don’t know much about PTSD, but I know when I walk into a store now, I’m looking left, I’m looking right, I’m looking over my shoulder,” he said.
Everyone should get used to looking left and right when out in public. Situational awareness is the new phrase. Every business has employees who are paid to wait on customers. They aren’t cops. Some of them are new and don’t know everyone. How can you hold them responsible for recognizing trespassers? You should be ready to take care of yourself these days.
Sounds like Snell needs to go to jail for a good long while. Also sounds like the owner of the Pheasant did the right thing. It’s understandable the man would be upset, he just got beat up for no good reason. Hopefully things will settle down and Snell will get a nice long jail sentence. He’s lucky he wasn’t shot, he might want to remember where he is and that many people carry.
That’s terrible. The restaurant should have tossed the guy out right away. I truly hope that Scott Smith is doing well now.
That’s my brother your all talking about without even knowing a damn thing my brother has already been in prison almost his whole life he has illness that has never been delt with and seems to me that the government has failed him badly I’m sorry Mr Smith that this happen to you I wish that my brother was normal again but I don’t think he ever will be mental illness is something that I wouldn’t want anyone to have happen to them or their family because as you said Mr Smith now u are paronoid everywhere well that is exactly what my brother is feeling all the time too i wrote to the courts many times pleading that they help my brother not just lock him up ,and then set free oveer and over again it’s sad it really is because my brother is lost inside himself somewhere and needs help