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Oregon Police: 12 Shootings in First 15 Weeks of 2019 On January 8, Portland Copwatch sent its now-annual report to Oregon's Attorney General on the deadly force incidents involving law enforcement in Oregon. Whereas we reported on 34 incidents in 2018 in People's Police Report #76, another one occurred on December 29 (see below), capping the record year at 35. The Portland Police kicked off the new year with the first shooting on January 2, as well as a second one four days later (p. 1). Other agencies-- including officers from Vancouver, WA-- were involved in at least ten other incidents in just the first 15 weeks of the year, meaning this year's total could match or exceed 2018's. Here's what happened: --On April 13, Milwaukie Officer Daniel Duke exchanged gunfire with Douglas Teter, 30, when he walked away from a "contact"; both were wounded. Other officers hit Teter with a Taser and took him into custody (KATU-TV, April 15). --On March 31, Springfield Sgt. Rick Lewis shot and killed Stacy William Kenny, 33, after a short car chase (Eugene Register Guard, April 16). --On March 16, The Dalles Police Officer James Finch shot and killed James Young, 77, who was allegedly firing a rifle on the front porch of his home (The Dalles Police Department, March 25). --On March 14, Idaho State Police chased Victor J. Morales Zavala, 25, into Oregon where he pulled off in the city of Ontario; two unnamed Oregon State Police Troopers shot and killed Zavala after he pointed a gun to his own head (KIVI-TV, March 14 and Idaho Press, March 28).
--On March 13, Eugene Officer Lucas Blackwell fired shots at Officer Tyler Tremain's patrol car--
--On March 9, Douglas County Sheriff's Lt. Jerry Tilley, Sgt. Andrew Scriven and Deputy Erik Johnson, and Oregon State Police Trooper Sam Clayton shot and killed Kristofer Haynes, 25, near Roseburg after a chase ended and Eddings allegedly fired his weapon at them. His car caught on fire; it is unclear why (Roseburg News-Review, March 22 and KOIN-TV, April 5). --On February 5, Vancouver Officer James Porter fired over 40 rounds at a truck driving down the I-205 and I-84 freeways in Portland. Porter had a trainee officer drive for him and shot out the windshield with his AR-15 assault rifle as he aimed at the other vehicle. The target was Erkinson Bossy, 23, a suspect in a January homicide in Kelso. The two people in the truck were not hit by bullets. Other officers eventually used a Pursuit Intervention Technique to ram Bossy's vehicle and end the chase, throwing one person from the truck with serious injuries (Oregonian, February 6 and March 8). --On January 19, Clackamas Deputies Hayden Sanders, Tanner Davis, Ryan Castro and Nate Ariel shot and killed Mark Leo Gregory Gago, 42, near Woodburn after finding he had killed four members of his own family and was allegedly trying to kill a child (Oregonlive, January 20 and Oregonian, February 8). --On January 11, Eugene Police School Resource Officers Steve Timm and Aaron Johns shot and killed Charles Landeros, 30, at a Middle School in Eugene, where video shows he pulled out a gun while officers confronted him following a dispute over whether his daughter could attend the school (Oregonian, January 26). --On January 5, Clackamas Deputies Scott Krause and Trevor Wolf shot at David J. Engebretson, 50, hitting him three times, having approached him after finding a warrant tied to his license plate. As with previous cases excusing officer actions, the Medical Examiner declared Engebretson died from four bullets he fired into his own head during the alleged gunbattle near Oak Grove-- though police bullets hit him in the head and chest (Oregonlive, February 15). --On December 29, Klamath County Sheriffs Deputies James Leach and Taylor McAdams shot and killed Mark Farrell, 33, near Beatty after Farrell allegedly assaulted someone, then approached officers with a weapon (Klamath Falls Herald and News, December 31). Also, on March 21, Oregon State Troopers chased Amber Lynn Mosey, 30, to an area north of Jefferson, where Mosey's stolen car rolled over and crashed, killing her (Eugene Police Department, March 22). In addition to the chase in Oregon, Vancouver Police shot and killed three men of color in a few weeks' time, including a 16 year old immigrant High School student on February 19 (Oregonian, February 22), a man allegedly pointing a gun at people and threatening suicide on March 1 (Oregonian, March 3), and a man who was allegedly a gang member upon whom officers tried to serve a warrant on March 7 (Columbian, March 15). As a follow up to the shooting of Adalberto Flores-Haro by Washington County Sheriff's officers in 2012, which permanently injured him, the $7 million jury award granted in 2018 (PPR #74) was reduced to $1.13 million by a federal judge, citing limits in Oregon's tort claim law (Oregonian, January 12). PCW's letter to the AG is at http://www.portlandcopwatch.org/oregon_shootings_letter0119.pdf. Our database of 231 incidents from 2010-2018 is at http://www.portlandcopwatch.org/ORshootings2010-18.pdf. |
May, 2019
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#77 Table of Contents
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which had
been stolen by Eli Perini, 36, while Tremain was running after Scott Saddler, whom he'd tried to
stop along with Perini (Register-Guard, March 14).