Police officer kills woman

The Oregonian ^ | 05/05/03 | MAXINE BERNSTEIN

[Henrietta]

Another "whack and stack"...

[Henrietta]

ping

[AppyPappy]

I bet she doesn't do that anymore

[Mears]

I think the police do a good job under very difficult circumstances.

I just hope the reason for the stop is a legitimate one.

[Grut]

WTF? The report's incoherent but the action it describes doesn't sound like it would be made a lot more palatable by a clearer account. I worry about all these modern badge numbers starting out "00...".

[NEPA]

Chances are if a tazer had no effect the woman was pretty much doped up.

But that is no reason to shoot to kill. The article doesn't give any indication she was a threat to the officers.

I want to be supportive of police but some a-holes with badges make it awfully difficult.

[rolling_stone]

I must be missing something, what caused deadly force to be used, was anyone's life in danger?

[chainsaw]

This will probably be white washed by an internal police investigation.

[Oztrich Boy]

was anyone's life in danger?

"Outside experts hired by the city are conducting a review of 27 Portland police shootings that occurred between January 1997 and July 2000" - probably everybody in Portland.

[zeugma]

It sounds confused because the officers involved obviously haven't gotten their story straight yet. Give them time to confer and come up with something plausible that will be regurgitated as the party line.

Just another 'civilian' killed here. Nothing to see. Move along.

[Qwerty]

"Chances are if a tazer had no effect the woman was pretty much doped up."

I met a guy once who does defensive combat training for cops.. he said tazers are crap and often don't work through clothing...

[goodnesswins]

What fool would drive away when stopped by police like this.....??? Hmmm???? "Was she a danger to others?" I would think so, if she jumped in the car and drove away as she was being stopped....I sure as He** wouldn't want to be anywhere near her.....too bad for the cops. Another Darwin candidate bites the dust.

[xusafflyer]

"An initial police investigation indicated the officer fired at the woman once the car had run over an officer's foot."

Last time I checked, that's called assault with a deadly weapon. He could have been dragged under the car or by the car. If this is what happened, the shooting was totally justified.

[NEPA]

I met a guy once who does defensive combat training for cops.. he said tazers are crap and often don't work through clothing...

Thanks for the info. I was under the impression they were pretty powerful. I remember during the Rodney King hoopla part of the justification for the force used was that the tazer had virtually no effect.

I suppose if you're trying to keep the police from getting the goods on you a tazer has lesser impact than it might on someone with nothing to hide. I realize I'm reading into the story stuff that isn't there but newspaper accounts can be slanted and sometimes it doesn't hurt to read between the lines. I'm thinking the woman had something to hide but that still doesn't justify the police action.

[sarasmom]

Another first to print-but nobody knows nothing about anything, details next week after after the facts are presented?
Keep a close eye on page #32 for the rest of the story, unless of course a riot can be cultivated in the meantime....

[Boxsford]

what exactly is a tazer?

[Qwerty]

"what exactly is a tazer?"

Oops.. taser. Basically, electric shock guns. They're supposed to incapacitate.