Excessive Force In Portland, Oregon

The other morning, before it was even daybreak, police received a report that a young man in his twenties was walking in traffic on the Broadway bridge in downtown Portland, Oregon. The witness reported that he was carrying a stick or piece of metal.

When police arrived, they found the person that had been reported and ordered him to drop the 'weapon'. When he did not comply, the police officer tased him. In fact, they tased him four times before they could 'control' him.

The young man turned out to be a 15 year old boy with autism. Sir J. Milage, has the mental comprehension of a two year old and lives with his legal guardian, his grandmother, a pastor of a local church in Portland. Sometime earlier, the grandmother had filed a disability identification with the Portland Police Bureau, telling the police about her autistic grandson in case he was ever found wandering and picked up.

The Portland Police said that their officers were " ...following their training and acted appropriately with the information they had." This story closely follows on the heel of the story of a mentally ill man, James Chasse Jr. who died in police custody after officers spotted Chasse on a Portland street earlier this year. The 42 year old man, said one officer, "...appeared to be on drugs or have a mental disorder and appeared to have been urinating in the street".
When police arrived, the man ran and many witnesses reported that "...several police officers knocked Chasse to the pavement then landed on top of him, kicking him and placed a taser gun to his torso." The witnesses also stated that Chasse "...had absolute sheer terror in his eyes...an officer tackled him like a football tackle and threw Chasse to the ground and kicked him repeatedly, hogtied him and used the taser on him several times." When Chasse began having trouble breathing, police called the paramedics and then, according to the police, the paramedics cleared him to go to jail. They booked Chasse on accusations of resisting arrest. Nurses at the jail said Chasse needed medical care and police were called to take him to a hospital. (no one called an ambulance or parametics, they just put him in a police car). Chasse died in the patrol car minutes later.

The autopsy report showed that Chasse had 12 fractured ribs, some of the broken ribs perforated the chest cavity and lungs, and the coroner found 200 cc of blood in the man's chest cavity. There was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in his system and the cause of death was listed at 'blunt force to the chest'.

According to the victim's father, his son "...was diagnosed as schizophrenic and anyone who spoke to him would have realized he was severely mentally ill". Several bystanders who witnessed the attack on Chasse have filed reports of police brutality.

Not just tasers have been used indiscriminately. The police were called to a home in Tigard, Oregon by a mother who was asking for help to calm down her 18 year old son, Lukas Glenn. She said her son had been drinking and she didn't know what to do. The 'help' Mrs. Glenn received from the police was a dead son. She and two close friends of the boy witnessed the police maliciously shoot and kill her 18 year old boy because, as she was later told, ..."because of the extreme threat of an 18 year old with a 3 inch knife". This case went to the district attorney who cleared the officers and deputies of any wrong-doing and called the shooting, 'legally justified'.

These are just three terribly sad stories. I could go on and on, maybe about the 48 year old unarmed man that was pulled over for failure to signal at a turn. The police fired three rounds into the mans car and witnesses say the man never even took off his seat belt. One more thing, the partner of the officer that fired the fatal shots then fired a taser at the victim too and the 50,000 volt charge ran for over three minutes. Or the sad story of 21 year old Kendra James, a small barely 100 pound woman who was pulled over in a car with three other people. Ms. James, who had a criminal record and a drug problem attempted to run when the officer tried to pull her out of the car. The officer drew his weapon and fired several shots which hit the victim. After the shooting the police handcuffed Ms. James and left her bleeding on the street without administering medical attention. James died four hours later. The family filed a civil suit which went to trial. The jury ruled in favor of the police officer, ending the civil case.

These stories all have a similar theme. People are being shot and killed in the streets unnecessarily. The
police do not have to use excessive force in cases where the victim is unarmed, or waving just a small pocket knife, or is mentally ill or mentally challenged and is just having a behavior, not doing anything wrong. This is very sad.

Police offers must be given better and more advanced training in dealing with the mentally ill and other disabilities. These people are not convicts. They are frightened and don't know what is happening to them. They flee because they don't know what else to do.

Why do the police have to 'Aim to Kill' when they're clearly dealing with someone who is really no threat. A stand of 10-12 police officers, fully armed, should be able to control a drunken 18 year old boy with a pocket knife.