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Oregon Teacher Arrested After Allegedly Initiating Confrontation With Sex Assault Victim
Trisha Ebbs, a health teacher, was reportedly placed on leave following the incident.
A teacher in Oregon was arrested over the weekend after she allegedly confronted a young woman she spotted in public and recognized as the victim of a previous instance of sexual assault, police say.
Trisha Ebbs was taken into custody on Friday, January 24, after police responded to reports of a fight at the Hops N Drops restaurant at around 9:30 p.m., Lt. Bob Trump, of the Keizer Police Department, said in a release issued Tuesday. The altercation reportedly involved Ebbs, who was at the restaurant with her husband and a number of other people, and an unnamed 20-year-old woman who was present with her father and a third person.
Ebbs is believed to have recognized the young woman as being the victim of a 2017 sexual assault case in Marion County, police said. The perpetrator in that case, whose name was not shared, was ultimately convicted of sexually assaulting the 20-year-old woman in the restaurant as well as a second underage woman. On Friday night, Ebbs was at the restaurant with the parents of the man who was convicted in the case, according to police; after the unnamed victim entered the restaurant and sat down, Ebbs allegedly approached her and then “began screaming at her, calling her various expletives attributable to Trisha Ebbs’ belief about the circumstances of the 2017 crime,” police said.
The interaction allegedly turned physical when the victim’s father intervened in an attempt to defend his daughter and shoved Ebbs, at which point several men who were present at the restaurant with Ebbs got involved and began pushing the victim’s father, according to the release. The fracas allegedly grew heated enough that employees were forced to get involved and separate all parties until the authorities arrived.
Ebbs, who witnesses say was “on top of” the victim and others in her party, was arrested and booked at the Marion County jail for disorderly conduct, police said Tuesday.
She has since been released on her own recognizance, and is scheduled to appear in court on February 25, according to Fox 5 Oregon.
Ebbs, 50, teaches health at North Salem High School, a spokesperson for Salem-Keizer Public Schools confirmed to the outlet. The district stated that she was placed on administrative leave that began Monday.
Authorities said that the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
