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Page 4
Young man has Heart Attack in Police Car
Darris Eugene Johnson. 26, died
at a Portland Hospital hours after he
fled from a vehicle traffic stop. He
ran and jumped three fences before
Portland Police arrested him early
Sunday morning on July 10.
The cause and m an n er of
Johnson’s death are pending on an
autopsy conducted by the Oregon
state Medical Examiner. They found
that he did not have any traumatic
injuries, but he did have a signifi­
cantly enlarged heart.
Johnson was arrested in a yard in
the 12300 block of Southeast Bush
I
I
I
Street after running from police.
Initially, he was one among four
other passengers in a 1988 Cadillac
stopped by officers on Southeast
122nd and Bush for not having a tail
light.
O fficers
ch eck ed
each
passenger’s information and as they
re-approached the car, Johnson ran
from the rear left passenger side. As
officers pursued Johnson with a
canine, a police dispatcher indicated
the suspect had a felony arrest war­
rant for parole violation for drugs.
Johnson jum ped over three
fences before officers located him
hiding behind a house.
After officers “verbally chal­
lenged the suspect,” Johnson co­
operated and was taken into cus­
tody “without incident" and "with­
out the use of force,” a Portland
police report said.
The suspect indicated that he
was having trouble breathing. As
officers, Zach Zelinka, a two-year-
veteran, and Justin Thurman, a four-
year-veteran, transported Johnson
to jail for his warrant, he began “ex­
periencing a medical problem,” the
police report said.
Eugene Boden, Johnson’s father,
503-288-0033
| says Derris suffered a “heart at­
Attn: Subscriptions, The | tack” in the back seat of the police
$60.(X) fo r 6 m onths • $110.00 fo r 1 year Portland Observer, PO Box ■
car.
$2(X).(X) for 2 years (please include check with form)
3137, Portland OR 97208.
I The police officers stopped at
N ame : ___________
I Southeast Market Street and Cherry
Blossom Drive and radioed for emer­
I
T elephone :
gency medical personnel to re­
I spond, took of his handcuffs and
A ddress :
I began CPR.
_______
I The Portland Fire paramedics and
or email subscriptions@portlandobserver.com | AMR ambulance arrived on scene
and provided care then transported
the su sp ect to the P o rtlan d
Adventist Medical Center.
The suspect arrived at Port­
land Adventist Medical Center at
5:59 a.m. and Medical staff in­
formed us the suspect suffered a
medical complication and was pro­
nounced dead at 7:58 a.m.
Preliminary information from
Medical staff indicated the sus­
pect tested positive for metham­
phetamine and marijuana and may
have suffered a cardiac arrest.
Investigators have learned that
Johnson had a felony parole vio­
lation warrant issued by the Or­
egon State Parole Board, related
to a 2009 conviction for Unlawful
Delivery of Cocaine and Resist­
ing Arrest.
Detectives would like to hear
from anyone with information
about Johnson's activities in the
24 hours preceding his death,
specifically any information about
drug use.
Anyone with information is en­
couraged to call Detective Chris
Traynorat (503) 823-0449.
NEW S E A S O N S
lu ly B , 2011
Week in
The Review
News of the World Shuts Down
The 168-year-old News of the World
publication came to an end last
weekend after being brought down
by a scandal over the interception
of voicemail messages. The final
edition included an apology to read­
ers for the newspaper losing its way,
as well as a defiant claim to being the
“world’s greatest.” Reporters leav­
ing the newsroom for the final time
on Saturday night were told by the
police to leave their desks, includ­
ing their notebooks, untouched.
Final Space Mission Complete
NASA’s final space
sh u ttle m ission
A tla n tis, w hich
launched on Friday,
July 8th, will carry
out a recycling ex­
periment to see if they can recycle
urine into drinkable water with no
power source in space. Although
astronauts at the International Space
Station have been drinking from a
machine that converts urine into
water for years, scientists say the
machine consumes too much of the
lab’s limited energy supply.
Former First Lady Dies
Betty Ford, the former first lady
whose triumph over drug and alco­
hol addiction became a beacon of
hope for addicts and the inspiration
for her Betty Ford Center in Califor­
nia, died at age 93, a family friend
said. Ford's husband, former Presi­
dent Gerald R. Ford, died in Decem­
ber 2006. Ford's body will be sent to
Michigan for burial alongside her
husband, who is buried at his name­
sake museum in Grand Rapids.
U.S. Women’s Soccer Victory
The U.S. women's national team won
against Brazil
S unday a fte r
the game went
into overtim e,
ultim ately de­
cided by pen­
alty kicks in the
W orld
C up
quarter finals.
Fans through­
out the country are getting excited
to see who will win the World Cup,
which will take place after a semi­
finals game where the U.S. team will
play France in Moenchengladbach.
Death Penalty on Hold
E A S Y & F U N TO S H O P • S E N S IB L Y P R IC E D • LOCALLY O W N E D & O P E R A T E D
A R B O R L O D G E • 5 0 3 467.4777
In te rs ta te A v e & P o rtla n d B lv d
C O N C O R D IA • 5 0 3 .2 8 8 .3 8 3 8
N E 3 3 rd & K illin g s w o r th
w w w .n e w s e a s o n s m a r k e t.c o m
After the Oregon Supreme Court
called for a competency hearing,
judge Joseph Guimond formally or­
dered the Oregon Health Authority
to evaluate the mental capacity of
inmate Gary Haugen, who has said
he wants to give up further appeals
and proceed with his execution.
Haugen, who was convicted in 1981
for killing a former girlfriend's mother
and an inmate in 2003, will undergo
an evaluation, ordered by Judge
Guimond, within the next 30 days to
see if he is able to make choices
surrounding his legal options.