Police kill road rage suspect in NoPo
Portland police shot and killed a young man in North Portland today. The deceased was reportedly armed and may have been involved in a road rage shooting in another part of town earlier in the day. But according to the KGW report, the police fired at his vehicle as it was driving away:
Police conducted a high risk traffic stop, and one passenger got out and cooperated with officers, but the driver of the car pulled out onto North Fessenden Street, King said.An officer then fired his weapon at the car, which then drove through an exterior wall and into an apartment, King said.
As we understand it, that's against bureau policy ever since the infamous killing of Kendra James in 2003.
Not that any discipline against any Portland officer for an unjustified killing will ever stick, of course.
| Posted at 10:08 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (6)
In 2005 James Jahar Perez was shot dead, while reaching to unhook his seat belt to get his inhaler, by a policeman, during a "routine" traffic stop. The stop was made on the pretext of the driver failing to use his turn signal within 20 feet of making a turn. This happened on the 7200 block of Fessenden street. Sort of strange, 2 civilian deaths at the hands of the police, occurring within 4 blocks of eachother.
Posted by gaye harris | July 28, 2012 10:33 PM
" Sort of strange, 2 civilian deaths ... "
Deaths at the hands of the PoPolice is not strange.
It is normal. Surprising it wasn't on the same block, rather than within four blocks of each other.
Never fear, for Mayor Sam is all over it. Not!
The killer will get a free pass, no outrage. Certainly no snake-oil-selling-sleezbag Al Sharpton or Rev Aldulterer Jesse Jackson.
Whatever, Portland...
Posted by Harry | July 28, 2012 11:23 PM
The O's write up seems to imply that the officers shot after the driver brandished his gun but before he drove away. It reads as though the driver threatens the cops, then gets shot himself, and then attempts to escape by driving away. He dies while doing so.
KGW reverses the timeline, explicitly placing the officers' shots only after the driver had already started to drive away.
Am I misreading that?
Posted by Mike H | July 29, 2012 12:20 AM
Maybe the officer should have gone on break?
Posted by Abe | July 29, 2012 6:45 AM
The official police press release says:
One passenger got out and cooperated with officers but the driver of the car pulled out of the lot and drove onto Fessenden. In the course of the stop one Portland Police Officer fired his weapon. Following the shot the car drove across Fessenden and through an exterior wall and into an apartment. The apartment was unoccupied and no one was injured.
A "correction" says:
One suspect complied and was taken into custody and one man got in the car, started it and drove out of the lot. In the course of the encounter, one officer fired his weapon.
If the fellow wasn't in a moving car when the officer shot him, the release probably would have been worded in such a way as to make that clear. The ambiguous language is an indication that existing policy wasn't followed.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 29, 2012 7:14 AM
Thanks.
And yes, they certainly do seem capable of clarifying these stories with more facts when it helps Portland PD.
Posted by Mike H | July 29, 2012 7:32 PM