Family of Erie Man Shot, Killed in Portland Speaks Out – March, 25, 2015
Christopher Ryan Healy, 36, was killed in Portland, Oregon Sunday after police shot him twice during an altercation stemming from an alleged burglary on the city’s east side.
Upon arrival at the scene, police say Healy, who had traveled to Portland from Seattle only a day or two before and was staying with a girl he had just met and her mom, approached them with a double-sided knife and was waving it in a figure-8 motion. That’s when he was shot, tased and later died at an area hospital.
Healy’s cousin Nicole said in Erie Tuesday, the altercation was all a big misunderstanding.
“Chris was a lot of things but a thief was not one of them, and he did have respect for other people’s property and he wasn’t homeless and he wasn’t broke,” said Nicole. “He wanted to start his life over somewhere new somewhere fresh and far far away from here.”
That desire to escape, Nicole said, was fueled mainly by Healy’s alleged involvement in a meth lab discovered by State Police at his home in the 200 block of Chestnut Street earlier this month.
“[It was a] suspected meth lab found in the home and us as the family, tried to handle it the right way,” Nicole said, adding that Healy’s sister called authorities to alert them of the meth lab. Nicole said, the family knew he needed help.
“He told us, quite a few of us, that he was going to die sometime this year; he knew he was done and it was over,” Nicole said, saying that when he hopped on a bus to Seattle Tuesday March 17th, she knew he was saying goodbye forever.
“I just wish people would stop assuming he was just this terrible, god-awful person and that he was out to get people because he wasn’t, he was sick and he truly needed help and unfortunately he did not get the help in time,” said said. “He was somebody’s son and brother and cousin and we loved him very much and we feared something like this was going to happen and now we are just trying to bring home our cousin.”
Healy’s remains will be cremated in Portland, according to Nicole, and then mailed back home to Erie where a private ceremony will be organized by the family.
What Are Your Questions About This Police Ruler? – Portland Mercury, 3/25/2015
On Monday afternoon, the Portland Police Bureau offered up its most-detailed account yet of Portland’s first deadly police shooting of the year. We learned the name of the man who cops say came at two officers with a knife (Christopher Ryan Healy, 36, of Pennsylvania). And we got a glimpse at the “double-bladed knife, 10 inches in length,” police say Healy menaced officers with, describing how he wielded it in a “weaving, figure eight motion” and attempted to stab an officer before being shot, then tased. (This is by no means the only account of the incident, as we pointed out in yesterday’s GMN.)
Here is the knife:
For an instant I was thinking “10 inches, just like they said.” Then I realized, no, that knife’s not a hair over nine inches (with blades that are closer to two inches), and for some reason the police bureau uses a ruler that begins after the first inch and looks homemade.
So we asked: Why are you calling this a 10-inch knife? Is this what the PPB measures evidence with?
Lead spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson understood why we were asking, and got back to us today.
“It was an unintended mistake,” Simpson says. “The photo was taken for the release (not the official evidence photo) and the end of the cloth ruler folded under. It would accurately be called a 9” knife rather than 10″.”
I’ll admit I’m still curious about the ruler. Particularly that “7.” How bout you, Blogtown? Any pressing questions about this ruler?
Witness, police accounts differ in deadly SE Portland shooting – KATU.com, 3/23/2015
Witnesses to a police shooting that left a man dead said Monday it all started because of a 911 call that never should have happened.
Police said six-year Portland Police Bureau veteran Thomas Clark shot and killed 36-year-old Christopher Ryan Healy of Erie, Pennsylvania on Sunday after police said Healy came at Clark with a knife.
But the police account and those of witnesses differ greatly.
The big question is when did the knife come out. Witnesses said Healy threw a punch at police. Then they shot him, and to defend himself, Healy pulled out a knife.
Police said the knife came out as soon as he lunged at two officers responding to the call.
Police released this image of the knife they say Healy used to threaten them with before they shot and killed him.
Healy’s friends said he was down from Seattle and hadn’t been in Portland but for 24 hours. He was on Southeast 130th and Sherman to get a shower at a friend’s house before heading downtown to a homeless shelter.
But a neighbor, Jean Paul Prosper, called 911 just before 5:30 p.m., thinking Healy was trying to break into his truck.
Prosper peeked through his blinds and said Healy was looking into his truck. Prosper was suspicious and called 911. When officers arrived, Prosper said Healy swung at police.
“Police push him and back up and give him shot right way,” Prosper said. “That was the first one.”
Prosper said Healy then got out the knife and went toward police a second time. They fired again.
“He was talking to my daughter at 5:21. By 5:26 he was shot, tased and in handcuffs,” said Tera Harris, who knew Healy. “We didn’t hear the police say, ‘Stop. You’re under arrest. Stop resisting.’ We didn’t hear anything. All we heard was gunshots.”
The call came in for a burglary, but police said there’s little evidence that Healy tried to break into anyone’s home.
Friends told KATU that he did have a 10-inch knife on him, which was something he kept around for protection.
The officer who fired the deadly shots and the officer who fired a Taser, Royce Curtiss, have both been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure following a police shooting.
Curtiss has been with the bureau for nine years, police said.
The police investigation is still underway.
Murderers