Man charged with stabbing Black teens on MAX train rejected from jail 3 times prior

Adrian Cummins was supposed to be in jail when he uttered a racist slur and then stabbed two Black teenagers on a Portland light rail train on Sept. 2, Multnomah County prosecutors alleged in court records.

In fact, police officers arrested and took Cummins to the Multnomah County Detention Center at least three times on different charges in the weeks leading up to the stabbings. Each time, the county’s Correctional Health Division prevented the jail from booking Cummins, 25, into the facility, citing unspecified medical conditions.

Cummins, who is white, was indicted by a Multnomah County grand jury last Friday on charges that include attempted murder, assault, robbery and bias, Oregon’s statute for hate crimes.