$300K Settlement From Portland Cops (2002 "Choked Grandma" Demo)

[hatrack]

Some absolutely unbelievable stuff in this article . . .

"Most of the plaintiffs who accused the Portland police of using excessive force during protests against President Bush and the Iraq war hailed the $300,000 settlement reached with the city Wednesday as a victory for Portland's activist community. But they were dismayed that the city and the Portland Police Bureau had not agreed to restrict the use of pepper spray and rubber munitions as crowd control tactics. They also criticized Chief Derrick Foxworth for promoting two of the supervisors shown on videotape either directing the activity or involved in it.

Shortly after the City Council voted unanimously to approve the settlement, lawyers for the plaintiffs held a news conference where they played videotaped footage of the violent police clashes and vowed to press for more police accountability. They said some of the money from the settlement is being donated to the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center that they have formed. "The city is going to pay dearly for this mistake," said attorney Alan Graf, noting that the $300,000 does not include attorney fees. "I think we have won the first battle in a long protracted war."

EDIT

As part of the discovery in the cases, the plaintiffs focused on the background of then-Sgt. Mark Kruger, who was caught on videotape repeatedly showering 20-year-old Miranda May with pepper spray at close range, on March 25, 2003. The plaintiffs deposed former friends of Kruger and accused him of being a Nazi sympathizer who has no tolerance for any "political dissent from the left." Kruger, in court records, acknowledged he owns Nazi memorabilia and has worn German uniforms to World War II re-enactments sponsored by the Northwest Historical Association. But Kruger denied he espouses any views of the Nazi party. Kruger since has been promoted to lieutenant, and Foxworth said he has full confidence in him.

The plaintiffs also showed in the discovery phase that then-Lt. Marti Rowley, who instructed officers to use pepper spray to move back a crowd during the 2002 Bush protest, had a teaching contract with Armor Holdings, the business that owns the company that manufactures the pepper spray used by police. Rowley is now a captain. May, who was 20 when she was arrested and pepper sprayed during the March 2003 antiwar protest, said Wednesday she was grateful that her encounter with police was caught on tape. "Not everyone who gets brutalized gets it on video. I feel lucky mine was," she said."

EDIT

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/110199289172221.xml

[el_gato]

1. it is no accident that so many cops are nazi sympathizers