Ernie Warren arrested, charges police brutality
Ernest Warren spent six years as
an E xplorer Executive fo r the
Columbia Pacific Council o f Boy
Scouts and state coordinator for the
Explorers’ La» Enforcement pro
gram. In this position he encouraged
high school young people to seek
careers in la» enforcement and to
vie» police as a positive force in the
com m unity, established Explorer
career training programs in la» en
forcement and coordinated police
sponsored Explorer groups.
On September 18th, Warren says,
he found himself on the ground with
a policeman’s knee in his back and a
policeman's hand in his pocket.
W’arren said he went to the home
o f a white family on N.E. Cleveland
to attempt to find his 16 year old
daughter who had run away. He had
been informed that she was at that
address w ith her 20 year old
boyfriend.
“ I knocked on the door and was
invited in ,” W’arren said. “ My
daughter was sitting on the daven
port but when she saw me she ran out
the back d o o r." W arren said he went
through the house to try to catch her
but when he saw she had gone he
walked back through the house and
talked to the young man. Unknown
to him, someone in the house had
called the police.
As he went out the front door,
three police cars drove up. Warren
stated that two police officers ran up
to him and without saying a word
one grabbed his arm and the other
grabbed him around the neck from
behind, choking him. After wrestling
him to the ground they handcuffed
him, pulling and jerking his arms
from behind.
During the time I was lying on my
face, with the officer kneeing me in
the back and pulling up on my arms,
this little animal the boy had tied to
the porch - a racoon, I think - kept
getting in my face. The police
thought that was fu nn y. They
laughed and joked and said, ‘ Oh,
you seem to have a friend’ .”
W’arren was put in the police car
by the same officers and taken to the
M ultn o m a h
C ounty
H o ld in g
Facility. On the way he attempted to
talk to the officers, to find out why
he had been arrested.
“ You seem to th in k I'm the
enemy,” he said, “ I ’ m on your
side.” He explained that he was
lo o kin g fo r his daughter and
questioned police procedures. He
th ro a t h urt where he had been
choked and it hurt to talk, but he
tried to explain that he is a good
citizen and would cooperate i f he
knew what they wanted.
Finally he was told that it was a
citizen’ s arrest for tresspass and that
the officers were not interested in the
daughter; runaways are a low
priority.
" I t boggled my m in d ,” he ex
plained. " I couldn’ t believe what
(Please turn to page 2 col. 1)
PORTLAND OBSERVER
Volume 9 No 38
Thursday. October 4, 1979
10 cents per copy
U S P S 9 5 9 680
Owen sues city, asks discipline
Ernest Owen, juvenile counsellor
and law student, is filing a law suit
against the Portland Police Bureau
charging b ru ta lity and false im
prisonm ent. “ I had heard about
police brutality in our community
for years but I didn’ t pay much at
tention: I didn’ t really believe it , ”
Owen told the Observer. “ But now I
have experienced it myself and I'm
going to fight it. We need to get this
type o f police o ffice r out o f the
community and out o f the Police
Bureau.”
Owen is asking $85,000 damages
and d is c ip lin a ry measures to be
taken against the police officers.
This May, Owen was called to visit
a youth center where a staff problem
was delvelping. He went to the home
late in the evening, drove one staff
member home, then drove up
Killingsworth toward his own home.
“ 1 was driving down Killingsworth
at about 2:00 or 2:30 in the morning
when I saw the Hashing light behind
me. I immediately pulled over. Next
they Hashed the spot light on me and
1 saw two officers running up with
guns pulled. One yelled, ‘ D on ’ t
move or I’ ll blow your head o f f .”
Owen said one o fficer grabbed
him from the car and threw him to
the ground, handcuffed him, kneed
him in the back. In the meantime two
additional cars drove up. Fie asked
one officer if he could get up, but
that officer lifted him up and let him
fall to the ground. Then they threw
him in the back o f a police car and
drove him around u n til ap
proximately 6:00 a.m.
Owen said throughout the alter
cation he was never told why he was
stopped. He said his driver’ s license,
registration and other ID were taken.
He was told he was not “ Ernest
Owen” and that the license did not
belong to him. He said his keys were
taken and his car trun k opened.
Police went through his belongings
including the legal and confidential
papers on juveniles he cour.sels that
were kept in his briefcase.
Owen was taken to the police
station, he said, then later to the
M ultn om ah
C ou nty
H o ld in g
Facility. At that time he was told he
had been arrested fo r wreckless
driving, misuse o f operator’ s license
and open container. He was never
given his rights.
Owen refused to accept bail but
stayed in jail over the weekend. On
Monday he appeared before Judge
Edwin York. Judge York said he did
not know why he had been jailed on
a driving charge and released him.
Owen said that about two weeks
later he was driving down Union
Avenue at about 6:00 p.m when the
same tw o o ffic e rs stopped him ,
arrested him and took him to jail.
Again the charge was misuse o f
operator's license. This time Owen
posted $5,000 bail. When he ap
peared before Judge York again, the
judge returned his bail and stated
again that he did not understand the
imprisonment.
On M ay 30, Gregory K afoury,
Owen's attorney wrote to one o f the
officers enclosing identification af
fidavits and asking that the arrests
cease.
On September 21, Owen went to
court on the tra ffic charges. The
police did not show. The charges
were dismissed.
Owen, who works closely with the
police and other law enforcement
agencies in his work as a juvenile
counsellor said he had never had any
conflict with the police and never
harbored any feelings against (hem.
" I have a right to drive my car any
time I want to. I pay taxes out o f
every paycheck. I have my rights and
the police have theirs. There right is
to enforce the law, not to beat me.”
Owen said he intends to persue his
rights in the courts. "W hen I said 1
would file a complaint about the way
they treated me, one officer said,
‘ That’ s what y’ all say but you don’ t
do anything about it.’ I ’ m going to
do something about it. We can't
allow this kind o f brutality to go on.
Somebody has to do som ething
about it, so I'm going to be (he one
to do it.”
Ambassadore speaks on Africa
Donald F. M cHenry, newly ap
pointed U S. Ambassador to the
United Nations, will participate in a
Great Decisions Conference --
“ Southern Africa Faces the 80s” -
in Portland October 12th.
McHenry will speak at 12:45 on
“ Southern A frica: Negotiation or
Violence” at the M em orial C o li
seum.
The all day conference will begin
with a welcome by Marcy Marks,
Great Decision chairperson. At 9:00
a.m. John Marcum, Vice Chancellor
and Professor o f Politics, University
o f C a lifo rn ia , Santa Cruze, w ill
speak on “ Southern A frica : The
Roots o f Crisis". A panel discussion
w ill feature: John Banda, medical
economist fo r the Kaiser Foun
dation, from Malawi; Chief Justice
A rn o Denekc, Oregon Supreme
C o u rt;
Ted
Feather,
local
businessman, from Zambia; Mazisi
Kunene, professor o f A fric a n
Literature and Languages, U C LA,
from South Africa.
F ollow in g the noon lunch,
Dorothy Weaver, former USIA o f
fice in Zaire and the Cameroon, will
discuss the Great Decisions program.
Mazisi Kunene w ill speak on
"Dynamics o f Culture, History and
P o litics in Southern A fric a ” . A
panel discussion will include: Penny
A u ila ,
Poetry
E d ito r,
The
Oregonian; Fungai Kumbala, lec
turer in Black Studies, PSU, and
columnist for the Portland Observer,
from Zim babwe; D r. D arrell
Millner, Professor in Black Studies,
PSU;
and
G ordon
M atzke,
Professor o f Geography, GSU.
The m orning and afternoon
sessions will be held at Willamette
Center, 121 S.W. Salmon, with the
noon meeting at the Coleseum.
Ambassador McHenry, a former
State Department official, has repre
sented the United States on various
United Nations bodies concerned
with Africa and with human rights.
He has been a ffilia te d w ith
Georgetown University.
Mazisi Kunene is a poet and foun
der of the Anti-Apartheid Movement
in Britian. He has served as chief
Representative o f the A fric a n
National Congress in the U.S. and
Europe.
New rules regulate utility shut-off
Public U tility Commissioner John
I obdell has adopted new rules to
guide electric and gas utilities on
procedures they must follow prior to
term inating service to residential
customers.
The rules include a ban on ter
mination o f service at any time if it
would sign ifican tly endanger the
physical health o f a residential con
sumer or any member o f the con
sumer’ s household.
The rules will be effective on Oc
tober 1st.
The 1979 Legislature passed a law
requiring the Commissioner to adopt
rules prohibiting termination during
winter months. Lobdcll said he ex
panded the directive since it is
possible that (he health o f a customer
-- such as one receiving kidney
dialysis treatment at home - could
be significantly endangered at any
time o f the year.
Certification of a health problem
could be made orally to a utility by a
physician, registered nurse, nurse
practitioner, physician's assistant, or
a public or private agency providing
physical or mental health care ser
vices.
The rules also provide:
- The u tility must give 15 days
written notice to the customer prior
to termination, the termination date
must be specified.
- A clear explanation o f the reason
fo r the te rm in a tio n must be
provided.
- If the customer is unable to pay
the bill in full, he may enter into a
payment agreement to bring the ac
count in balance within 10 months.
- If the customer is unable to pay,
the u tility must provide a list o f
public and private social services
agencies that may be able to provide
help.
- The utility must make an effort
to contact the customer in person at
least 72 hours before termination,
and once again immediately before
termination takes place.
- If a customer appears unable to
comprehend the consequences o f the
notice o f term ination, the u tility
must n o tify the Departm ent o f
Human Resources and extend the
termination date by five days.
- Customers may appeal a
notice o f termination and may ap
peal for restoration o f service bv
contacting the Consumer Assistance
Section o f (he Office o f the Public-
U tility Commissioner. The utilities
will be required to provide customers
with the toll-free telephone number
o f the Consumer Assistance Section.
I f an appeal is made before ter
m ination, service may not be ter
minated w ithout approval o f the
Public U tility Commissioner. If ter
mination has already taken place, the
Com m issioner
may
order
restoration.
The proposed rule d ra fte d by
Lobdell’s staff included a provision
that notice o f termination must con
tain advice in the Spanish, V iet
namese and Russian languages. W it
nesses pointed out that there are as
many as 40 languages used by
Oregonians and it would not be
reasonable to lim it the advisory to
three languages.
As a result, Lobdell revised the
rules to place responsibility on the
u tilitie s fo r determ ining i f the
customer is unable to understand the
termination notice for language or
any other reason and to bring a
social service worker into the case
prior to termination.
1
1
F
DARREN BRIGGS
DWAYNE BRIGGS
Good News Brothers: Champs
By Allen Jones
I f there is a sport older than
wrestling in the history o f the world,
it is yet to be recorded! Since its
glorification during the Roman Em
pire that offered a soldier, workman,
or a mere commoner a chance for
fame and wealth based solely on
physical strength and endurance
W restling continues to be the
worlds’ s most participating sport. It
isn’ t as visable as many o f the
modern day sports are around the
world today, but the physical and
mental demands are just as necessary
- if not more so. A victory is not
based on just mere brute strength
and muscles - but style and more im
portantly - technique.
Take the Briggs brothers for an
example Darren, 9 years old, and
Dwayne, I I years old, have had the
train in g , technique and desire to
become national champions in their
respective weight classes and did it!
Both young men have been pounding
the canvas for three years now And
according to their coach o f 2 years,
(Please turn to page 2 col 4)