Police chief visits Scott Olsen in hospital

[RamboLiberal]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old Iraq war veteran who suffered a head injury during Tuesday night's Occupy Oakland protest, was paid a visit by interim Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan on Friday.

Olsen is in fair condition at Highland Hospital in Oakland and continues to improve, friends said. The Daly City resident is breathing on his own and is able to write notes to doctors and loved ones, but has trouble articulating words.

On Friday, Jordan said he had visited with Olsen and his parents.

"I expressed my sorrow for what happened to their son," Jordan said at a City Hall news conference. "They were very receptive. ... I also expressed to them the process that's involved in terms of this incident, in terms of a full review and internal investigation."



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/28/BA791LNMQ8.DTL&tsp=1

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Beck Diefenbach / Special to The Chronicle

Friends and family of Scott Olsen, the Iraq War veteran who was injured in Tuesday's protest, hold pictures of Olsen during a vigil outside of Oakland City Hall on Thursday

[MichiganVote]

1. Worried about him lawyering up.

[cleanhippie]

3. Yep.

[ingac70]

7. Let the butt kissing commence! n/t

[kestrel91316]

2. Probably tried to pressure him to sign something saying he wouldn't sue or make a fuss.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. Oh, I hope not.

I do hope the Police Chief's motives were a little better than that.

[kestrel91316]

23. I never trust any police officer's motives anymore. Long personal experience

and great disillusionment.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

27. I'm surprised they haven't indicted Scott.

That's usually SOP for when they fuck up.

[kestrel91316]

37. Oh, just wait. They'll probably try.

[cleanhippie]

4. 100% damage control and nothing more.

:puke:


You should have given your officers better instructions, douchebag.

[SpiralHawk]

6. I've always felt it was impossible to know another person's true motivation

...and thus to try and weigh matters most heavily on what a person's actual actions were. The Chief went to see the hurt man, and to speak with his family face to face. That's all we really know.

[Psephos]

8. true, that n/t

[pasto76]

9. yeah, cause there IS a small chance, right, that he is actually concerned ahout him

at least on DU, the OWS discussion has turned into "police are the enemy". Which is bullshit

[DocMac]

14. Until they prove otherwise, yes they are!

Don't make excuses for these people. Not in Oakland and those that supported this raid.

You don't seem to understand that the police are the only ones harming these protesters.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

29. so guilty until proven innocent then? nt

[lunatica]

32. Jordan is accountable for every single thing that happened that night.

He gave the orders. And that's a fact. Do you believe in facts?

[drdtroit]

20. Then the police need to show some real courage and prosecute the psychopath, yes? n/t

[kestrel91316]

25. You misunderstand. Authoritarians are the enemy. And yes, I mean every last one of them on earth.

I can't help the fact that most cops are authoritarians.

[lunatica]

31. Sure. That's why riot police from the entire Bay Area were sent in by him

and tear gas was used and a veteran for peace was shot in the head. Concern. Sure.

Police Chief Jordan called the shots. He is accountable for every single thing that happened that night.

[kestrel91316]

38. Authoritarians everywhere, in all job capacities, ARE the enemy of democracy and

individual freedom.

[Ikonoklast]

40. I learned at age 17 that the police will lie. In a court of law.

So yes, until each individual policeman proves otherwise, I assume that they DO NOT have my best interests at heart.

[glinda]

10. His Evangelical Church that includes Jews For Jesus and conversions worldwide made

him to it. He probably went to pray. Pray that he is not sued.

[Historic NY]

11. His is the acting chief and from what I understand they have not...

been able to identify which police agency was down there. I sure some people are reviewing the tape frame by frame.

[Dont call me Shirley]

12. That is unusual for the acting police chief to go visit the victim

[DocMac]

15. Damage control. That is all. nt

[lunatica]

33. Unless he personally visits all the victims of police brutality, I agree with you

Highland Hospital is where the police take people they arrest who are hurt due to stab wounds or gunfire. It's quite common to see the police bring in criminals in handcuffs and bleeding.

My son was taken there when he had a bad car accident that broke a vertebrae in his back. They're very good with trauma cases. Scott Olsen is there.

[Posteritatis]

35. And it wouldn't have happened had he been just some random protestor, either. (nt)

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Balsy, I gotta say...very balsy

[Yon_Yonson]

16. I am a cynic and I want to call this an attempt at damage control

[marasinghe]

17. as always - too little too late. n/t

[valerief]

18. What an asshole. Why doesn't he leave Scott and his family in peace? nt

[civilisation]

19. agreed,. slimy move to be sure,. .

where was the concern when you sent those thugs to bust up the occupation? (health and safety!) where was it when when you brought in all these "outside" thugs in to help,. and now you claim we are not sure who fired the projectile straight at this kids head,. are you friggin' kidding me! We all saw how you pigs piled on with more tear-gas as people where coming to the aid of the guy who ability to speak you took,. like you take all our livelihoods, and homes,. burn in hell.

[Scruffy1]

21. If he really gave a shit he would arrest Bergstresser.

All he has to do is say you are under arrest, cuff him then read him his rights.

[Kennah]

22. Wow, they sent the Chief to serve an arrest warrant?

Half a sarcasm tag

[zbdent]

24. I wonder if there would be a lot of crabbing along the lines of the "beer summit"

since the injured party was at what is being portrayed as a "lefty-run" event?

[kestrel91316]

26. If Scott were MY son and I were there with him, I would have told the police chief

to get out and stay away, and would have served him with a restraining order for good measure.

If nothing else, his visit could be construed as victim/witness intimidation.

[TorchTheWitch]

34. well, that would certainly help the investigation

:eyes:

Funny how everyone here is getting their usual cop hate on ignoring all common sense like the need to talk to the victim to see if he can give any information about identifying who shot him along with the ridiculous belief that police departments are at the top of the authority chain rather than the obvious of being directly under the thumb of the local government.

[kestrel91316]

36. The police chief was NOT there to conduct an investigation. That is for

internal affairs detectives, as I am sure you full well know. The police chief is one of those whose job is now on the line for what happened.

[truthisfreedom]

28. Probably had a little sit-down with the Mayor, and decided that making nice was the best PR.

Risky, but good PR.

If I was this kid's parents I'd be impressed. The police chief didn't shoot him with a tear gas canister. It was a thumper that will get his just desserts.

[lunatica]

30. What's so impressive about it?

[kestrel91316]

39. The hypocrisy, one presumes. Gleefully send in massive police presence

with orders to shoot in violation of the law and our constitutional rights, and then make nice and say it was all just a silly little mix-up. I'm pretty sure he made some lame remark about them not actually having a clue who committed the crime against Scott.

[JoeyT]

41. It's not even cynicism to say Jordan doesn't particularly give a damn.

What he regrets is that this is making him look very bad and he's doing damage control.

If he was a decent enough human being to care about someone being injured, he wouldn't have given the orders that caused them to be injured.