Baker City man arrested for allegedly hitting man with beer bottle during fight at Geiser-Pollman Park
Published 6:11 am Tuesday, July 22, 2025
- Baker City Police car
A Baker City man is charged with second-degree assault, a crime that if he were convicted requires a mandatory minimum prison term of five years and 10 months, for allegedly hitting a man in the head with a beer bottle during an altercation in Geiser-Pollman Park during Miners Jubilee on Friday night, July 18.
Jesse Le Scott Gregory, 32, was arrested about 10:23 p.m. on Friday in the park.
In addition to second-degree assault, which is a Class B felony, Gregory is charged with fourth-degree assault, a Class A misdemeanor, and second-degree disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor.
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According to a probable cause affidavit written by Baker City Police officer Lance Woodward, who arrested Gregory, police were called to the park regarding a fight.
Woodward wrote that a witness told him he saw two men fighting in the park — Gregory and Richard James Cochran of Baker City. Cochran was working in security for Miners Jubilee vendors, Woodward wrote.
Woodward said the witness saw Gregory push and then hit Cochran. The witness told Woodward that Gregory was “the primary aggressor in this incident.”
Woodward said he interviewed Gregory, who said he was trying to walk through the park when Cochran told him he had to leave. Gregory denied hitting Cochran and denied having a beer bottle, but said he “may have pushed” Cochran.
Gregory “was visibly intoxicated as I spoke with him,” Woodward wrote. “He was slurring his speech and was wobbly as he stood. I could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from him.”
Woodward also interviewed Cochran, who said he told Gregory he couldn’t be in the park at the time, which was after vendors had closed. Cochran had a cut, about 2 centimeters long, near his left eyebrow that was dripping blood, Woodward wrote.
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Woodward wrote that Cochran told Baker City Police Sgt. Mike Regan that Gregory had hit him with a beer bottle, causing the cut.
Cochran showed Woodward and Regan where the fight happened, on the sidewalk near the west side of the Powder River Pavilion. Woodward wrote that he and Regan saw drops of blood and found “the remnants of the neck of a beer bottle on sidewalk,” which Woodward collected as evidence.
Woodward then arrested Gregory and took him to the Baker County Jail, where he remains on Tuesday morning, July 22. His bail was set at $50,000.
A status check hearing is set for Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. in Baker County Circuit Court.
A probable cause preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 28 at 1:15 p.m.