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Portland Police shootings since May include 2 humans, 3 dogs, one SUVThe six months from mid-November, 2001 to mid-May 2002 involved at least five police shootings that left three citizens dead. The following six-month period from mid-May to late November seemed to mark a slight change in officers' quickness to use deadly force, at least against people. On May 12, Jeremy Joseph Christian, 20, a suspect in an armed robbery was shot in the cheek by Portland Police officer Chris Devlin in a residential North Portland neighborhood (Oregonian and KOIN-TV, May 14). Christian allegedly stole $1000 and cigarettes from a convenience store. He survived, but neighbors expressed concern about gunfire near their homes. On October 18, according to news reports, Officer George Weseman, Jr. returned fire at fraud suspect Dustin Tyler Gomez, 16, who shot Weseman in the head. (The bullet grazed Weseman's skull.) Weseman had arrived at a check-cashing store in Southeast Portland (119th&Stark) on a separate call when Gomez allegedly tried to pass a bad check. Weseman tried to handcuff Gomez, who fired and ran. Weseman pursued him and fired "at least a dozen shots" and wounded Gomez in the chest, abdomen and pelvis (Oregonian, October 19) . More recently, on December 13, officers shot at the driver of a Ford Explorer while involved in a traffic stop on another vehicle. Nobody was hurt despite a large number of bullets fired on busy East Burnside during morning rush hour (Oregonian, December 17). The fact that in this case and Weseman's so many bullets were flying in populated business areas is an indication that police policies around discharging firearms still needs a lot of work. During the first week of September, Officer Brett Williamson fired three shots that killed Shannon Allen's dog, a Norwegian elkhound/Australian shepherd mix. Williamson had been called to the house to investigate a possible domestic disturbance, but Allen told the Oregonian (September 10) "He never asked if we were safe, or if the problem had been resolved. He just shot my dog and left." On October 1, Portland Officer Justin Clary and a Gresham Officer chasing a suspect allegedly killed one Rottweiller and wounded another at a Southeast Portland home. The dogs' owner says Officer Clary also poked the gun in his stomach (Mercury, October 17). Police shootings of dogs are not uncommon, yet the question of their quick reliance on deadly force in these cases does not seem to prompt the Bureau to re-examine its policies and training. The external review now being conducted of police shootings does not include shootings of animals (see article on PARC).
IN HILLSBORO, ANOTHER POLICE SHOOTING RULED "SUICIDE" On July 24, Hillsboro police shot and killed Daniel Leon Flannigan after a two-hour standoff (Oregonian, July 26). Flannigan, who was holding a gun, allegedly yelled "Shoot me, I want to die," and the officers responded by shooting him in the head (now that's responding to community demands!). Dr. Nikolas Hartshorne of the state medical examiner's office declared the shooting a suicide, a curious ruling we've seen before. It does appear that when one person takes another's life, it should be called a homicide, regardless of what the person may have said prior to being killed. Is it an "assisted suicide," or a "justifiable homicide"? These seem to be questions best answered by a jury, not a doctor.
Breaking news: On December 6, West Linn Police shot and killed 23-year-old Jeremy Shellbe during a domestic violence call (Oregonian, December 8.) |
PPR 28 May 2003 Table of Contents |
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