Daily KOS, March 27, 2014 In May it will be four years since 25-year-old African-American Keaton Otis was killed by Portland police in a frenzy of 32 shots in seven seconds… recorded on the iPhone of a witness. He was shot by officers of the Hotspot Enforcement Action Team — HEAT — on the day […]
By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian, July 10, 2013 A new outside audit of six Portland police shootings and one death in custody highlights a series of problems that continue to plague officers’ use of deadly force and the bureau’s internal reviews. READ – OIR Group Report 2 – Police Shootings and In Custody Deaths – […]
By Jenny Westberg, Portland Mental Health Examiner Around 10:30 p.m. on August 14, Michael Justin Evans became the latest casualty in a years-long series of bloody encounters between Portland-area police and persons with mental illness or addiction. Evans, 23, was killed by one of the two Gladstone police officers dispatched to the home he shared […]
From The Skanner, July 30, 2012 Felesia Otis says it’s hard to pinpoint the moment when her son Keaton became mentally ill. As a Benson High School student he had lots of friends and loved life. Keaton was artistic, interested in photography, graphic design and poetry. After leaving school, he designed and produced tee-shirts and […]
By Jake Thomas, Street Roots, March 15, 2012 A common pattern often emerges after a citizen dies at the hands of police. There is public rage. The city promises reform, and then the rage simmers off until the next incident. Less noticeable, however, is the constant work of people dedicated to bringing reform to the […]
By James Mazzocco, on BlueOregon.com It was January 25, and Brad Morgan wanted to die. Maybe it was earlier. He had problems. A day, a week, or a month before — nobody can know for sure. All the same, Brad Morgan knew it was time. A tragic event has the power to cause us to […]
By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian, Tuesday, February 28, 2012 Federal authorities investigating the Portland Police Bureau’s use of force held their first public meeting Tuesday night in St. Johns to gather citizens’ accounts of their interactions with city officers. More than 60 people attended. Their complaints varied, but all pleaded with the federal investigators to […]
The actual Press Release for this event we include in full below, but it oddly makes no mention of people with a mental illness. The investigation started with an announcement on June 8th, 2011, where Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas E. Perez said the investigation was prompted by the significant increase in police shooting over […]
From the Portland Mercury, January 10, 2012 It’s tucked all the way at the end of the latest (and still unceremoniously quiet) release of Police Review Board reports: After a meeting last fall, the discipline panel — which reviews cases and advises Chief Mike Reese on punishment — overwhelmingly found every aspect of the May […]
From In These Times, September 3, 2011 There’s no sufficient apologizing for the inanities of the essay below; we only include it as a portion of our comprehensive archive of the issues its author comments on. On June 8, the Justice Department announced a civil rights investigation to see if police officers in Portland, Ore., […]
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