A screenshot from a video Ferdos Ahmed posted of the alleged bias crime incident that the DA's office says took place in June outside the Bend Red Robin. Credit: Ferdos Ahmed/Facebook
Wake up seven days a week with the Cascades Reader. Get local news, event information, podcasts, discounts and more. Sign up now!
Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel has charged a Bend man in an alleged incident of racial bias.
On Monday, Hummel’s office announced that it had charged 35-year old Bendite Jeremiah McBride with bias crime in the second degree, harassment and criminal mischief, related to an incident that started at the Red Robin restaurant in the Old Mill June 28, when McBride allegedly harassed Door Dash delivery driver Billal Ahmedin.
According to the DA’s office, “Mr. Ahmedin picked up the delivery food bag from the area in the bar where delivery orders are left for delivery drivers. 35-year-old Bend resident Jeremiah McBride was a customer in the bar, saw Mr. Ahmedin pick up the delivery order, and confronted him. Mr. Ahmedin told Mr. McBride he was a delivery driver, but this did not deter Mr. McBride. Mr. McBride persisted with his hostile attitude, including calling the victim the N-word.
WATCH: Family members posted a video of the incident on Facebook July 1:
This is my brother. He was harassed and falsely accused of stealing a Door Dash order. On June 28, 2020, he walked into a Red Robbin restaurant in Central Oregon for the 3rd order that day. As he picked up the order and proceeded to his car, a restaurant patron yelled across the room and accused my brother of stealing the order (I can not make this up). The suspect followed my brother to the car and called him a thief, racial slurs, threatened to kill him, and kicked a dent in his car. The suspect also told my brother he would call the police to kill him! I wish I could make this up. But this is the reality we unfortunately live in.
The restaurant called the police but the suspect fled the scene before the police arrived. While waiting for the police to arrive, my brother rushed to deliver the Door Dash order to the customer. I probably would have thrown the order away and called it a day!
This was clearly a traumatizing experience for my brother. He was super opposed to me posting this, but after much convincing he gave me permission. I have been checking-in with my brother and he continues to make light jokes of the situation, which I find impossible to do. I realized jokes have become a normal coping method to traumatic experiences. My brother didn’t deserve this, no one deserves this. He is literally the most caring human I know. What’s scares me most, is this could have easily been a Trayvon Martin/Zimmerman story.
It’s time to stop being ashamed of the trauma some experience on a daily basis. We can not solve trauma until we decide to be vocal about it. His friend has started a go-fund me for attorney fees so that justice can be served publicly.
You never know what the person who delivered your order goes through before you get your order. PLEASE SHARE THIS STORY.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/stand-up-against-hate-justice-for-inequality?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_nacp+share-sheet&rcid=442af9a14d7e41d8816f5dd9936164b1
“Mr. Ahmedin walked outside to his car, and Mr. McBride pursued him. Mr. Ahmedin started to drive off when Mr. McBride violently kicked the car, causing damage. Mr. Ahmedin got out of his car and Mr. McBride then shouted at him and shoved him. Witnesses, including the Red Robin bartender who came outside, observed the incident.”
As DA Hummel stated, “By all accounts, Billal Ahmedin is one of the hardest workers in our community. He shines in his job by getting in and out of restaurants, and to his customers, as quickly as possible. He’s saving money in pursuit of his dream to one day open an Ethiopian food truck in our community.”
Friends of Ahmedin set up a GoFundMe for him under “Billal Ahmedin Door Dash Driver Assulted” (typo in the title) on the GoFundMe site. Social justice group Embrace Bend also started a GoFundMe for Ahmed this week to help him start his food truck, but the group is now asking people to donate to the original fundraiser started by Ahmed’s friends.
A screenshot from a video Ferdos Ahmed posted of the alleged bias crime incident that the DA’s office says took place in June outside the Bend Red Robin. Credit: Ferdos Ahmed/Facebook
Nicole Vulcan became Editor of the Source in 2016 and was promoted to Editor in Chief in 2024, managing the Editorial Board and the news team's many investigative projects. She's also at work on her debut...
More by Nicole Vulcan
Join the Conversation
5 Comments
Did people actually witness this happening and do nothing?!!
If so……wowza!!!
It would be nice if the video was watchable. I don’t have a Facebook account so can’t view it. It’s wrong to post a video which is controlled by Facebook, it’s not the first time I’ve encountered this issue. However, I feel news reporting Must be open and fair. Posting a video that can only be watched via social media account is just plan unprofessional and should never be used.
For some reason I can not play video and I don’t use FACEBOOK.
I am so proud of our district attorney Mr. Hummel for speaking out on public television and in print and taking the stance that this type of behavior displayed by Jeremiah McBride is completely unacceptable here in Bend and that McBride is charged and will face consequences. Thank you Mr. Hummel. We need more leadership like yours. I am questioning though why we are reporting on this now and not when it happened earlier this month?
Dear Mr. Ahmedin, I am so sorry that this happened to you and by a white person. This behavior of McBride’s is completely unacceptable and by the sound of it, he will face consequences which I think should include doing equity work in the community through a self exploration/rehabilitation group on learning how not to be a racist. I think we need to start something like that here in Bend. It would be like doing community service hours and healing our community in addition to the consequences of the charges he faces.
Although I do not know you, I am happy that you are a part of the community. I would be happy to support you in your food truck endeavor, so I will be donating. I am sure this incident was not feeling like a safe situation for you at all and I am so sorry to you for this. I wish someone would have stepped in to help you. I know that if I would have been there or my husband, we definitely would have stepped in. You should be treated like the valued citizen that you are. I hope that you know and can feel that you are a vital part of the community and that there are white people here in Bend fighting and advocating for equity along with people of color.
Hey peeps — Unfortunately, the video is not downloadable due to the sharing settings set by the person who posted it, and thus is only playing on Facebook.
Does Jeremiah have the right to sue for video recording without consent , so its against the law to profit money off videotape of someone without consent. Jeremiah did you sign any consent documents? Who’s got smarter lawyer than a community full of Bo-finkles
Did people actually witness this happening and do nothing?!!
If so……wowza!!!
It would be nice if the video was watchable. I don’t have a Facebook account so can’t view it. It’s wrong to post a video which is controlled by Facebook, it’s not the first time I’ve encountered this issue. However, I feel news reporting Must be open and fair. Posting a video that can only be watched via social media account is just plan unprofessional and should never be used.
For some reason I can not play video and I don’t use FACEBOOK.
I am so proud of our district attorney Mr. Hummel for speaking out on public television and in print and taking the stance that this type of behavior displayed by Jeremiah McBride is completely unacceptable here in Bend and that McBride is charged and will face consequences. Thank you Mr. Hummel. We need more leadership like yours. I am questioning though why we are reporting on this now and not when it happened earlier this month?
Dear Mr. Ahmedin, I am so sorry that this happened to you and by a white person. This behavior of McBride’s is completely unacceptable and by the sound of it, he will face consequences which I think should include doing equity work in the community through a self exploration/rehabilitation group on learning how not to be a racist. I think we need to start something like that here in Bend. It would be like doing community service hours and healing our community in addition to the consequences of the charges he faces.
Although I do not know you, I am happy that you are a part of the community. I would be happy to support you in your food truck endeavor, so I will be donating. I am sure this incident was not feeling like a safe situation for you at all and I am so sorry to you for this. I wish someone would have stepped in to help you. I know that if I would have been there or my husband, we definitely would have stepped in. You should be treated like the valued citizen that you are. I hope that you know and can feel that you are a vital part of the community and that there are white people here in Bend fighting and advocating for equity along with people of color.
Warm Regards,
Nicole
Hey peeps — Unfortunately, the video is not downloadable due to the sharing settings set by the person who posted it, and thus is only playing on Facebook.
Does Jeremiah have the right to sue for video recording without consent , so its against the law to profit money off videotape of someone without consent. Jeremiah did you sign any consent documents? Who’s got smarter lawyer than a community full of Bo-finkles