Portland observer., May 28, 1981, Page 14, Image 14

Paga 14 Portland Observer M ay 28,1981
Police receive challenge to develop strategy I 'Butte inmate sues
District Attorney M ika Schrunk discusses newly
adopted city ordinances that give police the power
to c lea r the area of an a rre s t of s p e c ta to rs .
Schrunk said he had not bean inform ed of the or­
dinances' passage Citizens com plainted that they
had no opportunity to testify before the Council
before the ordiances were passed.
(Photo: Richard J Brown)
Representatives o f the Police
Bureau were presented a letter
Saturday, requesting that they meet
and talk with citizens o f the Black
com m unity regarding their com­
plaints and concerns and then return
in 30 days w ith a plan to address
these complaints and concerns.
The letter, presented at the
P o lic e /C o m m u n ity R e la tio n s
formus sponsored by the Observer,
said in part:
“ Recently the com m unity has
again
spoken
out
about
p o lice /co m m u n ity relations. We
have v o lu n ta rily assumed the
responsibility o f facilitating a series
o f com m unity forum s where the
voice o f the Black community could
be heard.
“ It appears that this is the proper
time to transfer certain aspects o f
these activities to the police bureau.
That is, we feel that it is your
responsibility to go to the people to
hear their com plaints, and to fo r­
mulate your own programs to
bridge the ever broadening gap o f
d isparity that exists between the
police and Black citizens.”
A document put together by
citizens who had attended the
forums will be held temporarily and
then be given to the police bureau
when they present their plan on
June 20th. The document addresses
the concerns that have been disussed
in the forum series and includes
suggestions for solutions.
“ We don’ t want to give the
Bureau the answers; we don’ t want
to appear that we speak for the en­
tire Black co m m u n ity,” M ike
Jones, a citizen who volunteered to
hold the document said. "W e want
the Bureau to go out and see what
the people are saying and then to
present their own plan. We have o f­
fered to assist them ."
The police bureau has been in ­
vited to bring their findings and
their plans to a forum on June 20th,
9:30 a.m., at Bourbon Street.
Following that meeting, any plans
for new police procedures w ill need
to be presented for public testimony
in a series o f pulbic meetings.
| (Continued from Page 1 Col 6)
| door, and we were told to step out
o f our cell. (N o te : Peter is o f
Mexican-American descent. At the
tim e o f the scene being described
here, his two cellmates were also
M exican-Am ericans.)
As
we
stepped out o f o ur cell we were
handcuffed to the bars on the walk­
way, while the o ffice rs searched
both our persons and our cells.
"D u rin g the search o f our cell,
o ffic e r Rick Gaskell was going
through my personal belongings,
and when he was looking through
my eye glass case where I had an
extra pair of glasses identical to the
ones I had on. O ffic e r Rick
Gaskell looked at the pair o f
glasses I had on, and back at the
pair in the eye glass case, and asked
me if the eye glasses in the case were
mine; to which I replied that they
were mine. Officer Gaskell then in­
formed me that I could not have in
my possession two pair o f glasses
and said that those in the case were
contraband.
“ I then told him that I had per­
mission to have them; that the
eye glasses were brought to me by
my brother, who turned them in to
the medical department, who in turn
gave them to me. But officer Rick
Gaskell chose to ignore my state­
ment and did not even bother
checking with the medical depart­
ment to ve rify my statement.
Gaskell just repeated his statement
that they were countraband and
proceeded to take both me and my
property to the front office o f A and
B tank, (my hands handcuffed
behind my back). And as o ffic e r
Gaskell put it, he was going to place
me in the ‘h o le ' (B -T ank) fo r
possession o f contraband. So I was
taken to the front office where there
were several other officers present. 1
then observed officer Gaskell throw
my eye glasses, eye glass case and
other a rtifa cts o f my personal
property in to the o ffic e garbage
can.
“ Upon seeing what he did w ith
my eye glasses and other property, I
voiced a protest saying that I had
paid S I33 fo r those eye glasses and
that he had no rig h t in th ro w in g
them away and I stated that i f fo r
some reason I was not allowed to
keep them any longer, that they
should be placed in storage for me.
“ But my protest only served to
enfuriate him and he (Gaskell) said
something about how 1 d o n ’ t te ll
him what to do, and for me to shut-
up, ami face the fioo i. I then bowed
my head down, but continued to
watch him. Officer Gaskell then in a
threatening voice ordered me to face
the flo o r, and to stop loo kin g at
him. And as soon as he finished that
statement he grabbed me by the hair
on my head and fo rc e fu lly pulled
my head all the way down to where
my face was touching the concrete
flo o r. And said that when he told
me to do something, for me to do it.
“ He (Gaskell) then yanked me up
by the hair along w ith another o f­
ficer and I was throw n against a
desk at the front o f the B-Tank sec­
tio n . I was then throw n against
some bars, head firs t, and from
which time I really can’ t remember
anything else. But I have been told
that I was knocked out when my
head h it the bars. And that I was
dragged in to the day room o f B-
Tank, which is the first cell and left
there until I was taken to Portland
Adventist Hospital and where I was
kept a week until there was found
bed space for me at OSH.”
C o n tin u e d n e xt w e e k . . . The
official reply and Mrs. Barboza’s at­
tempt to find justice for her son.
THE VA W i l l PAv E L IG IB L E
VETERAN*. TO « 0 TO c O H E lU
O R L E A R N A 1WAC*E E TH ER
ON t h e
’ OP OR
Contact nearest VA office (check your
phone book | or a local veterans Q'eup
r
A