Page 2
September 2, 2020
B ack to S chool
Teen Arrested in Harris Death
Kceon Colbert, 19, was arrest-
ed last week in Vancouver in con-
nection with the shooting death of
Shai’India Harris, an 18-year-old
Portland woman who died on July
10 outside a home in the Lents
neighborhood of southeast Port-
land.
He was being held in the Clark
County jail pending charges.
Police have not provided any
information about the circum-
stances of the shooting, or the
relationship between Harris and
Colbert. But a Facebook page en-
titled “Justice for Shai’India,” op-
The
(AP) — The American Civ-
il Liberties Union filed a lawsuit
last week alleging agents sent by
President Donald Trump to pro-
tect a federal courthouse targeted
by Black Lives Matter protesters
used excessive force and illegal
detentions to rob protesters of
their freedom of speech and as-
sembly.
The lawsuit also alleges that the
acting director of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Homeland Security, Chad
Wolf, did not have the authority to
send more than 100 agents to Port-
land because he was improperly
appointed. The federal agents ex-
ceeded the limits of their author-
ity, making illegal arrests and us-
ing tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper
spray and other tactics to squelch
the protests, the lawsuit alleges.
“Our clients are individuals
Almost all the plaintiffs allege
physical injuries from getting hit
by metal tear gas canisters, rub-
ber bullets, pepper spray and oth-
er chemical irritants. Some were
treated at hospitals, where they
got multiple stitches and received
CAT scans to check for more se-
rious internal injuries, the lawsuit
says.
A video of plaintiff and Navy
veteran Christopher David’s en-
counter with U.S. agents outside
the Portland courthouse circu-
lated widely on social media. It
showed one agent hitting David
with a baton and another dousing
him in the face with pepper spray.
David suffered two broken bones
in his hand.
The U.S. Department of Jus-
tice has said it is conducting an
internal review of the incident.
Also among the plaintiffs are
two groups that have organized
protesters: the Black Millennial
Movement and Rose City Justice.
“Federal officers had no place
and no right to further exacerbate
our environment in our commu-
nity with force and violence and
brutality and there is real atten-
tion that needs to be focused on
the brutality from law enforce-
ment,” said Shanice Clarke, of
the Black Millennial Movement.
The lawsuit is the third filed by
ACLU in Portland since nightly
protests began after the May 25
death of George Floyd, the Black
man who died after a white Min-
neapolis police officer pinned
him by the neck.
Two previous lawsuits tar-
geted the federal agents’ actions
against members of the press and
legal observers and against street
medics who treat protesters hurt
by tear gas, pepper spray and rub-
ber bullets.
in
the Oregon Republican Party has
failed to gather enough signa-
tures to recall Gov. Kate Brown.
Republicans backing the latest at-
tempt accused Brown of abusing
her power in response to the coro-
navirus pandemic.
ALCU Sues Trump over Portland Response
and organizations that gathered
peacefully in downtown Portland
to support Black Lives Matter
after the killing of George Floyd
and so many others at the hands of
the police,” said Jeremy Sacks, an
attorney working with the ACLU.
“But they were met by violence
from the federal police forces in-
tent on squelching the protesters
message and their Constitutional
rights — all in aid of the presi-
dent’s political agenda.”
Plaintiffs include three military
veterans, a college professor, sev-
eral Black Lives Matter activists
and a man who alleges he was
snatched off a street blocks from
the federal courthouse by uniden-
tified agents for no reason.
“I still haven’t fully come to
terms with what it means that I
was kidnapped by my govern-
ment,” Mark Pettibone said in a
statement. “People need to know
what happened to me and the gov-
ernment needs to be held account-
able so that what happened to me
doesn’t happen to someone else.”
erated by family and friends, says
Harris and Colbert were previous-
ly in a relationship.
Week Review
A demonstrator is pepper sprayed shortly before being arrested during a Black Lives Matter protest
at the U. S. Courthouse, downtown, on July 30. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal
lawsuit Aug. 26 challenging the legality of the actions taken by U.S. agents sent by President Donald
Trump to subdue protests in Portland. (AP photo)
Claims gathering
met by violent
federal agents
Kceon Colbert
Free School Meals Extended
Hall of Famer Coach Dies
The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
announced Tuesday that school
meals will be distributed free
while students are learning from
home at least through the end of
the year. In Oregon, 100 schools
and concerned community orga-
nizations had signed a letter to
USDA demanding an extension
of pandemic waivers to distribute
food in parks and other off- school
sites to prevent wide-spread child
hunger.
John Thompson, the Hall of Fam-
er basketball coach who turned
Georgetown into a powerhouse
and became the first Black coach
to lead a team to the NCAA men’s
basketball championship in 1984,
has died at the age of 78 .“Our fa-
ther was an inspiration to many
and devoted his life to developing
young people not simply on but,
most importantly, off the basket-
ball court,” said a statement from Former Chief Investigated
his family.
Oregon’s police certification agen-
cy was ordered Thursday to inves-
Riot Outside Mayor’s Home
Police declared a riot after pro- tigate whether retired West Linn
testers turned violent outside Police Chief Terry Timeus should
the northwest Portland home of retain his police certification after
Mayor Ted Wheeler Monday eve- directing a wrongful arrest in 2017
ning. Wearing party hats to mark of a Black man in Portland at the
the mayor’s birthday, members request of his fishing buddy. The
of the group launched fireworks agency will be asked to determine
and marched with a large sign that if Timeus violated the moral fit-
read “resign.” Police said the pro- ness standard to be a police officer
testers broke windows, burglar- in Oregon.
ized a business, and lit
a fire in an occupied
apartment building.
Sheriffs Won’t Help
Portland
A plan by the Gov.
Kate Brown to use
sheriff’s deputies from
surrounding counties
to help patrol Portland
following the deadly
shooting of a right-
wing protestors, was
sharply criticized by law enforce-
ment officials who said it wouldn’t
end the “cycle of violence” in the
city that’s approaching 100 con-
secutive nights of often-violent
Black Lives Matter protests.
TriMet Completes Track Work
After 28 days of round-the-clock
work, amounting to 672 hours of
demolition, construction and test-
ing, TriMet has reopened the top
deck of the Steel Bridge. It marks
the end of the biggest light rail
Governor Recall Fails Again
revitalization effort in 34 years to
For the second time in two years, keep MAX service reliable.