Pase B2___________________________________________
(Clic ^lortlanh (Observer
May 05.2004
Inside the James
Getting
Away
with
Murder
continued
fro m F ront
office, peers o f the officer and assistant
police chiefs. It will scrutinize police policy
and procedure according to training, tac­
tics and equipment. With reference to
those topics, the board will recommend
whether Officer Jason Sery, who shot
Perez and Sean Macomber, who pulled
him over for failure to signal a turn, should
keep their jobs or face any sort o f disci­
pline.
The board is expected to begin its
review no later than this summer, accord­
ing to a spokesman from the Portland
Police Bureau. The m ayor’s office, how­
ever, has expressed hope that the bureau
can accelerate that.
The Albina Ministerial Alliance, a
group o f African American religious lead­
ers, say they will include the Perez, shoot­
ing death with their ongoing scrutiny of
the police bureau.
“W e’re going to continue our pursuit
for changes within the Portland Police
Bureau with regards to recommendations
that have been made. . .to demonstrate
how such changes could help prevent
the occurrences of wrongful death of
citizens by use o f deathly force by the
Portland Police Department,” said Dr. T.
Allen Bethel, alliance president.
He said he was not completely satis­
fied by the public inquest proceedings,
but that the outcome was satisfactory.
“T he proceedings did not get at
disclosing as m uch inform ation as I
w ould like to have seen presented and
I w ould have liked for the line of ques­
tioning to be more forceful,” he said.
“G iven the narrow scope that the ju ­
rors had to deal w ith, the only verdict
that could have com e out o f that was
hom icide.”
Both Sery and Macomber testified at
the public inquest, reiterating that they
feared for their lives because they be­
lieved Perez, had a gun. Both officers
placed heavy weight on a gaze from Perez,
which they say made them felt like targets
with Perez noting their positions to take
aim at them.
No weapons, however, were found on
Perez or in his car.
Som e com m unity m em bers took is­
sue w ith the process o f the inquest,
calling it “officer friendly” and c riti­
cized the absence o f a cross-exam ina­
tion after w itnesses were “tossed soft-
balls" by Schrunk, w ho conducted the
inquest.
Others were distraught that prior ex­
cessive force com plaints against Sery
were not aired at the inquest. Sery was
named in at least three separate exces­
sive force incidents since January of
2003.
Foxworth was one among 40 experts
and eyewitnesses testifying before the
jury, but his testimony was limited by the
ongoing internal review, which could
take several months to resolve.
A statement from the Perez, family was
read by Schrunk at the conclusion o f the
inquest.
The statement suggests that the facts
in the case show Perez was pulled over by
police based on his race and expensive
car and that the officers’ mindset o f fear
was responsible for his death.
According to the statement, “Perez
was killed because one Portland police
officer badly over-reacted to an unarmed
m an's actions, and this over-reaction
was caused, in part, by a policy of train­
ing officers to be afraid and mistrustful of
Portland citizens.”
The message from Perez’s family cuts
to the heart of the matter, according to
Gordly.
“I hope that the city o f Portland was
paying attention and I hope that the
citizens o f Portland read every single
word o f the Perez family statement,” she
said. “That statement speaks volumes
about what is wrong and what needs to
be corrected and the fam ily's words need
to guide the next step."
The Perez family and supporters listen to testimony inside the courtroom.
Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk questions Officer Sean Macomber, who pulled over James Jahar Perez less than 25 seconds before he
was fatally shot by Macomber's partner.
Melodie Presler was in George Park
when officers pulled over James
Jahar Perez. She said Officer Jason
Sery approached Perez's car with his
gun drawn. Sery says he didn't.
Attorney Elden Rosenthal is surrounded by his clients from the Perez family.
Dirk Tyler, at the scene
o f the police shooting,
watched the encounter
with James Jahar Perez
from outside the door of
City Food Market. He
knew Perez from a
football team they played
on in their youth.
Norman Brown told the public inquest
jury that he had been in the car with
James Jahar Perez minutes before he
was pulled over and fatally shot by
police.