Goddamnit!!! What the fuck is the matter with the police in this state???

[funflower]

SPRINGFIELD (AP) — A police officer shot and killed the driver of a truck that was reported stolen, the authorities said.

Springfield Police on Monday identified the driver as Jason Porter, 15, who died at the scene.

Police declined to say if the driver had a weapon, or how many shots were fired. An autopsy was performed Sunday, but the results were not released.

"For an officer to fire his or her weapon at someone doesn't require anything but the officer to feel danger for his or her life,'' said Springfield police Capt. Rich Harrison, a 27-year veteran who could not recall the last time a Springfield officer was involved in a fatal shooting.

The late-model Dodge 4-wheel drive pickup had been reported stolen from the Gateway Mall parking lot a day or two before the shooting. An officer spotted it just after midnight on Sunday, and a chase ensued.

The truck's driver, who was alone in the truck, entered the Weyerhaeuser linerboard plant before stopping near the railroad tracks that run through the property.

That's when the fatal encounter took place, Harrison said.

(more)

http://www.dhonline.com/articles/2005/06/27/news/oregon/state01.txt

:grr::nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr:

[bliss_eternal]

1. Has your state had problems w/this before?

Please excuse my ignorance of your state's issues...

:dunce:

[funflower]

3. Fatal shootings of unarmed people are waaaay too common here.

It happens, very conservatively, every couple of months in our low-populated state.

The victim isn't usually an unarmed 15-YEAR-OLD.

[lenidog]

6. We don't know he is unarmed yet unless you heard something that

you don't have a link too.

[AX10]

18. I'd never move to Oregon.

[lenidog]

2. Maybe you should wait for a little more info

We don't know if the kid was armed or not. If he wasn't armed then its time to throw a fit.

[funflower]

4. It's just happened once (or twice or three times) too often the past year

or two.

[lenidog]

5. Were they armed or were they unarmed

If I am anybody especially a cop and someone is going to bust a cap on me then I do not see their age or lack there of being a good reason for me not do defend myself.

[funflower]

7. I'm talking about cases where the person was unarmed.

[funflower]

8. The dead 15-year-old boy was unarmed. Happens all the time. But the

the victims are usually black or hispanic.

NewsFlash Home | More Oregon News

No gun on boy killed by police
6/28/2005, 12:08 a.m. PT
The Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. (AP) — A police officer appears to have been justified in fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy who did not have a weapon, said Doug Harcleroad, the Lane County district attorney.

Jason Porter, a Thurston High School sophomore, was struck in the jaw as he sat behind the wheel of a pickup that was reported stolen. The shooter, a Springfield police officer with less than two years on the force, told investigators he thought Porter had a gun.

"Assuming we don't get anything new, it's a justified shooting in our minds," Harcleroad said.

(more)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=174&topic_id=2285&mesg_id=2291

[AX10]

22. Break the back of the police unions.

[Conservativesux]

9. Clue: You folks are living in a police state. Expect murders of this sort.

to increase, not decrease, with time.

In a true police state, such as the US is presently in the condtion of being, most police officers are going to be found innocent, no matter what happened.

I know you folks dont want to believe that "officer friendly"
and his fellow thugs in uniform, hiding behind the color of law, the the badge and of course the gun, is really just a modern day version of the gestapo, but there you have it.

Remember Amadou Diallo, killed by NYC's finsest, and many more like him who have been wrongly gunned down by the police.

One wrong move and you are DOA at the morgue, and no questions asked.

[funflower]

10. The law doesn't protect anyone who is in any way "suspicious" in the

eyes of the average young white cop with a gun.

Male? Young? Colored? Stoned? Mentally? Rowdy or insufficiently obedient to Mr. Policeman?

Of course those are all great reasons for Mr. Policeman to be sssccccarred of you, if he's sssscared, he can do whatever the hell he wants to protect himself.

And, in Lane County anyway, the DA will clear the cop of any wrongdoing before your body is cold.

[AX10]

17. There has been a negative transformation within our nations...

police forces over the years. The "Peace Officer" became a paramilitary
force that had to deal with the mythological "drug war".

[MinotaurArms]

19. I do not find Oregon to be such a situation...

as if it were, then the protesters who block the freeways in Portland would have some brutality coming.

[me b zola]

20. Well, I have to disagree with you

Two fatal police shootings occurred within two miles of my house in the past two years----both were unarmed African Americans. There is a thuggery that is pervasive within the PPD---of course that does not mean every police officer---but the ones who do not partake knowingly turn a blind eye.

I love this city, but the PPD definately needs to clean house (its own).

[unschooler]

21. The District Attorney's office turns a blind eye, too, and not just

in Portland. Without a video on the news (as in the Rodney King case), the prosecutors pretty much ignore police wrongdoing.

[LWolf]

11. This is appalling.

I have to point out, though, that police, like teachers and other public servants, can't all be lumped together as "right," or "wrong." It appears that these particular officers fired when they saw him move his hand, and thought he had a gun. That's a tough call, and one I'm glad I'll never have to make. This time, they were wrong, and a young man died. Did they know he was only 15, or were they just responding to the movement of a car thief who engaged them in a chase? It seems like, in this particular case, there is plenty of blame to spread around to all, and none of it changes the outcome. :-(

This spring we called our local officers to intervene in a crisis. I won't share details online, but I'll say that there were legal complications limiting what they could do; they maneuvered through them, found a legally viable solution, and saved a life.

There you go; two different incidents involving Oregon police this spring, one with the worst, and one with the best possible outcome. I think most situations usually fall somewhere in between.

[funflower]

12. Don't wanna lump them together. It's the way they're trained and perhaps

recruited that produces far too many dead, unarmed people in Oregon and many other states. I don't remember this happening so often 10 or 20 years ago, and I really doubt it would happen as often if 50% of the police force was female.

[LWolf]

13. Interesting point;

I hadn't thought about this from a gender perspective, but it makes some sense. How many wars might we have avoided if 50% of any administration were female?

[oneold1-4u]

14. OR is an armed camp!

there is absolutely no reason that anyone who wanted to, wouldn't be able to possess a gun of some type and any officer of the law should always be aware of the fact that most lawbreakers do. Many children in this state are trained hunters by age 15 and know guns better than school courses. I won my first shooting match at 12 or 13 and don't recall any adult in family, or friends, who didn't own at least one gun!
For all the private ownership of guns, the gun crime rate is still low, and most crimes are committed with illegal guns! (stolen, unregistered, bought illegally)
To the officer (s), don't take a chance! To the feds who come from an illegal government, beware the armed TRUE AMERICAN!

[Robert Oak]

15. noticing a pattern

Oregon police shoot x, unarmed or whatever

Oregon police cleared in shooting, justified

Lawsuit in policy shooting dismissed.

Reminds me of Indiana, which was corrupt as hell and constantly
shooting people unwarranted and getting away with it.

[funflower]

16. I don't know if they're corrupt, but they're way too quick on the trigger.

And nothing ever happens to any of them as a result of shooting and killing and unarmed citizen.

I find it disappointing that our DA's never, ever vigorously pursue these cases.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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