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Volume XLV
Number 1
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • January 6, 2016
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo by o livia o livia /t he p ortland o bserver
Rev. T. Allen Bethel speaks out during a picket at City Hall after the Oregon Court of Appeals orders the reinstatement of a Portland officer who was fired for shooting an
unarmed black resident to death six years ago. Behind him, NAACP Portland chapter president Jo Ann Hardesty also rallied to oppose the ruling.
Police Reform Activists Stunned
Fired cop ordered
returned to force
by o livia o livia
t he p ortland o bserver
A court ruling giving a Portland Police officer his job
back after he was fired for killing an unarmed black res-
ident in 2010 has been met with outrage from members
of the African-American community, other civil rights
advocates, and the mayor.
Black ministers from the Albina Ministerial Alliance
Coalition for Police Reform, representatives of the Port-
land NAACP, Black Lives Matter and others activists,
braved frigid temperatures to protest the decision by the
Oregon Court of Appeals and form a picket line at City
Hall on New Year’s Eve, the day after the Dec. 30 deci-
sion was announced.
Aaron Campbell, who was only 25 at the time of his
death, was shot in the back after police were called for a
wellness check at his Northeast Sandy Boulevard apart-
ment. There were reports that he was distraught and pos-
sibly suicidal over his brother’s death earlier that day
from natural causes.
The shooter – Officer Ron Frashour, was acting as
cover behind a police car for another officer who shot
Campbell with beanbag rounds. Frashour was eventually
removed from the force for acting outside of police pro-
tocols, but never convicted. An arbitrator ruled he had
“an objectively reasonable basis” to use deadly force.
The city’s agreement with the Police union to use bind-
ing arbitration as a way to resolve labor contract disputes
was the basis for the appeals court decision to affirm the
ruling.
With the appeals case now closed, Frashour stands to
return to the force.
“What about our safety, our humanity?” asked Ang-
ie Black, a mother and member of Black Lives Matter.
“Don’t I have the right to see my son grow up, and hope
he is safe and alive and well? I would be scared if I knew
that officer was patrolling the neighborhood where my
son is playing or going to school.”
Joining her at the City Hall protest was Black’s son,
Moses, who stood beside her for support, and both weres
C ontinued on p age 5