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Two Die in 32 Hours After Portland Police At about 10 PM on May 13, officers responding to a homicide call shot and killed 27-year-old Jason Spoor, who they say came out of the house with a weapon. One of the officers was Scott McCollister (#40709), the man who shot and killed unarmed African American motorist Kendra James in May, 2003 (PPR #30). At about 6 AM on May 15, Police raided the home of suspected drug dealer Derek Coady, 43, and shot him at least twice before he died of what they claim was a self-inflicted wound. Spoor was confronted by McCollister, Officer Timothy Bacon (#29352) and as many as 13 other officers outside a house near NE Glisan and 90th after they had interviewed a woman who called 911 about a murder. The police say they saw smoke billowing from the house, and that Spoor saw them, ran in, and ran back out carrying a gun (Oregonian, May 15). Coady was shot by officer Russ Corno (#26712) as police from the Gang Enforcement Team served a warrant on his home at SE 126th and Holgate while assisting federal agents. The feds said Corno was part of criminal activity involving methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine (Oregonian, May 17). Police spin doctor Brian Schmautz says Coady was in the detached garage behind his home and refused to put down a gun when Corno shot at him. Ultimately the medical examiner said Coady died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head (Oregonian, May 16). This same Medical Examiner has made various rulings favorable to theories that police were not responsible for suspects' deaths (see PPR #38). Early reports also suggested that Spoor had committed suicide. At the time of Spoor's shooting, officers in Portland had not used their firearms since August, 2007, a total of 267 days from when they shot Paul Stewart. This was the longest length of time without a Portland Police shooting since 1995's 351 day streak. In October, 2004, they ended the next longest lull 239 days after the March death of James Jahar Perez (PPR #34). Stewart, who now goes by the name Akiaz King, was convicted of several misdemeanor and two felony counts by Judge Michael Marcus in June. In an apparent conflict of interest, Assistant DA Traci Anderson, who made the decision not to ask a grand jury whether Officer Stephanie Rabey (#29993) broke the law by shooting the unarmed African American man, also prosecuted Stewart. Anderson told the Oregonian that "no one was hurt," (August 28, 2007) even though Stewart was treated for a gunshot wound and possible brain hemorrhage at OHSU (Portland Mercury, June 19). His sentence includes maximum terms totalling nine years in jail, a good way to keep him from pursuing a lawsuit for being shot in the head. Marcus mentioned a few times during the sentencing that Stewart had been shot "for no reason." The Oregonian covered Stewart's case extensively on July 2, focusing not only on the strange relationship between him and the woman who initially called police to the scene last August--his on again, off again girlfriend who met him while he was an inmate at the Juvenile Justice center, where she is an employee--but also the similarity between Stewart's shooting and that of Raymond Gwerder in 2005 (PPR #37). Each man was talking to police on the phone at the time another officer shot them with an AR-15 assault rifle. In her interview with detectives, Rabey admitted she had no idea Sgt. Dave Golliday (#26974) was on the phone with Stewart when she shot him. The arbitraror who reinstated Kaer said the Lieutenant "made a series of poor decisions" which merited the four weeks off without pay originally proposed by Chief Sizer, not being fired by Mayor Potter (Portland Tribuneon line, July 30). It's disconcerting that a Lieutanant who leaves his precinct without telling anyone and ends up killing a human being gets four weeks off, while others are fired for less serious offenses. In late July, Officer Christina Nelson (#28000) went public with news that Sizer wants to fire her because she applied for special funds for surgery, but lied about her ailment. She said it was for her gallbladder, when in fact she was repairing complications from stomach-band surgery (Oregonian, July 22). Who did the most harm?
Meanwhile, the case of James Chasse, Jr.'s death is moving its way forward in and out of court.
The judge in the civil trial, Garr King, cited the creation of the documentary "Alien Boy" about
Chasse's life and death (PPR #44) as a reason to keep certain files sealed
(Oregonian,
May 22). He also ordered the lawsuit split into two trials, one to determine the responsibility of
Sgt. Kyle Nice, Officer Christopher Humphreys and then-Deputy Brett Burton (who now works
for the Portland Police), the other on the liability of the City of Portland, the county, and the
ambulance company ( Mercury blog, June 4). Officer Rick Bean (#39770), who first approached unarmed African American motorist Kendra James in May, 2003 before she was shot by Officer Scott McCollister (PPR #30), was recently promoted to Sergeant but demoted almost immediately for acting in the way Kendra James allegedly did. Luckily for Bean, he was not shot when he eluded a Clackamas County Sheriff's Deputy who apparently wanted to pull the off-duty Bean over for speeding. In fact, Bean isn't being investigated for criminal misconduct, though it was the Clackamas Sheriff's office who filed the internal affairs complaint in Portland leading to his demotion (Oregonian, May 7 and June 7).
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September, 2008
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#45 Table of Contents
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