SHOOTING
<<Police are investigating an officer-involved shooting that happened at a mobile home park in Kelso Tuesday morning.
At about 7 a.m., officers responded to a hit-and-run investigation involving multiple vehicles in the South Kelso area. Police say the investigation led them to the Three Rivers Mobile Home Park at 914 South 12th Avenue.
Police say officers tried to contact the suspect, identified by witnesses as 19-year-old Daniel Madden and an officer-involved shooting occurred.
According to the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office, Madden refused to show his hands before revealing a gun and began walking towards the officers.
An officer used a taser on him, which was not effective in stopping him from approaching.
As Madden approached he pointed the gun directly at an officers head as reported by the sheriff’s office. He was then hit by an officers gunfire and fell to the ground. Officers administered first aid and Madden was taken to the Southwest Washington Medical Center. As of this afternoon Madden is reportedly in critical condition but has been stabilized.
No other details about the shooting have been released by police at this time.
The Lower Columbia Major Crimes Team is leading the investigation. The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on critical incident leave per policy.>>
JAIL DEATH
<<A person in custody at the downtown Portland jail died Tuesday afternoon, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said.
Corrections officers discovered the person “unresponsive” in a cell at about 4:45 p.m., called jail medical staff and attempted lifesaving efforts, but the person died, the sheriff’s office said.
The name of the person has not been released yet. The East County Major Crimes Team is investigating the death.
This is the sixth person to die this year while in custody at a Multnomah County jail, all of them since the beginning of May.>>
<<No official cause has been determined yet in any of the six deaths.>>
<<Another inmate has died in Multnomah Custody, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office confirmed to WW this morning in response to an inquiry.
The inmate was discovered unresponsive in their cell in the county’s downtown jail yesterday at 4:15 pm and was pronounced dead later that night. The inmate’s identity has not been released. The office has begun an investigation.
This is the sixth death of an inmate in Multnomah County since the beginning of May. There had been only four deaths in an entire calendar year since 2010, WW reported last month.>>
https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2023/08/02/another-person-has-died-in-multnomah-county-jail/
RECIDIVISM
<<About half of Oregon inmates who are released on parole or post-prison supervision are arrested again within three years, according to Oregon’s Criminal Justice Commission. More than a third of the offenders are convicted for new crimes.>>
<<To better understand recidivism statistics, KGW talked with Ken Sanchagrin, the executive director at the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, the agency that tracks how often a convicted criminal goes on to commit a new crime once released.
“We normally look at three years because it takes time once folks are out to ensure they’re able to comply with the rules of society,” Sanchagrin said. “The reality is that being involved in criminality — sometimes you’re going to have stumbles along the way to try to desist from crime.”
Here’s a glimpse at what CJC data shows:
51% of parole/post-prison supervision offenders were arrested again within three years of their release
35% were convicted again within three years
13.5% were incarcerated again within three years
Oregon’s rates of recidivism are lower than the national averages most recently reported by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. In a survey of 34 states, BJS found:
62% of state prisoners were arrested again within three years of release
45% were convicted again within three years
39% were incarcerated again within three years
“We do feel like we’re leaders in the country as far as re-entry services,” Sanchagrin said. “In many cases we still have a long ways to go as evidenced by the numbers, but compared to some other states, we do feel like we’re a little bit better positioned there.”
However, the datasets are not perfectly comparable. The BJS report covers inmates released between 2012 and 2015, whereas the most recent Oregon CJC reporting covers 2019 to 2022.
Oregon’s recidivism statistics — and recidivism throughout the country — decreased significantly during the pandemic, Sanchagrin said.
A May 2023 CJC report found that “recidivism rates in Oregon are at or near historic lows.” Sanchagrin said the CJC found that Measure 110 and the decriminalization of drugs lowered recidivism rates by about 1% across the three categories, which he admitted was a smaller decrease than many thought they’d find.
Additionally, while lower recidivism rates might seem like good news, it’s not necessarily because people are re-offending less often. They might not be getting arrested or convicted due to a shortage of police officers and public defenders — two areas that Sanchagrin pointed to when explaining the pandemic-era decrease.>>
<<When surveying all offenders released in a 2016 cohort, with their 3-year recidivism timeframe ending before the pandemic, the CJC reported 55% were arrested again, 45% were convicted again, and 18% were incarcerated again — closer in line with national averages.
Sanchagrin said the conviction rate is the best way to measure success and failure in recidivism, and investment in rehabilitation is how to lower it.
“I think that it really demonstrates there needs to be continued support for re-entry programs, for monitoring, for skill development,” he said.
“It’s tough to take somebody and to not provide them with enough services when they first come out and expect them to do really well, but the more services we can wrap around folks than the better outcomes we can expect.”>>
FAKE COP
<<An Oregon man posed as a police officer to kidnap a woman in Seattle, then sexually assaulted and imprisoned her in a cinderblock cell in the garage of his Klamath Falls home before she managed to escape, the Portland FBI office said Wednesday.
The suspect, 29-year-old Negasi Zuberi, was arrested after the woman escaped by beating “the door with her hands until they were bloody” and flagged down a passing motorist who called 911, the FBI said.
The FBI said they have linked Zuberi to additional violent sexual assaults in other states and they have reason to believe there may be other victims. The investigation has expanded to 10 states where the Zuberi lived in the past decade.
On July 15, Zuberi traveled to Seattle and solicited the services of a sex worker, the FBI said citing court records, then posed as an undercover police officer to kidnap her. The woman told investigators that Zuberi pointed a taser at her and handcuffed her in the backseat of his car, then drove about 450 miles with her, sexually assaulting her along the way.
She said that when they got to his home in Klamath Falls, he put her in a makeshift cell made of cinderblocks in his garage. According to the FBI complaint, the victim briefly fell asleep but “awoke to the realization that she would likely die if she did not attempt to escape.”
The cell had a metal door that could not be opened from the inside, but the victim said that once Zuberi left, she began punching the door in an effort to escape.
“According to the complaint, this woman was kidnapped, chained, sexually assaulted, and locked in a cinderblock cell,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge Stephanie Shark said in a statement. “Police say, she beat the door with her hands until they were bloody in order to break free. Her quick thinking and will to survive may have saved other women from a similar nightmare.”
A captain with the Klamath Falls Police Department told reporters that the victim was able to break some of the metal door’s welded joints, creating an opening just large enough for her to climb through.
“When she was trying to escape the cell itself, she repeatedly punched the door with her own hands,” said Capt. Rob Reynolds. “She had several lacerations along her knuckles.”
On her way out of the house, the woman got into Zuberi’s vehicle and retrieved a handgun she’d seen in it earlier, taking it with her. She flagged down a passing motorist who called 911.
Klamath Falls police got a search warrant for the house and found the makeshift cell, as well as some handwritten notes appearing to show some of Zuberi’s plans for the kidnapping and for the construction of a below-ground space.
Zuberi fled to Reno, the FBI said, where he was located and arrested after “a brief standoff with local police.” According to the complaint, Zuberi was with his wife and one of his children when police found him in a Walmart parking lot. They were not harmed during the arrest.>>
<<The FBI announced that 29-year-old Negasi Zuberi — also known as Sakima, Justin Hyche and Justin Kouassi — is in federal custody for interstate kidnapping after a woman escaped from his home. >>
<<On Saturday, July 15, 2023, Zuberi traveled from his Klamath Falls home to Seattle where he approached a woman around midnight near Aurora Avenue and solicited prostitution, according to court documents.
Zuberi claimed to be a police officer and showed the victim a badge saying he needed to take her into custody, according to the documents, adding that he then pointed a taser at the victim before putting her in handcuffs and leg irons and putting her in the back of his car.
He then drove 450 miles to Klamath Falls and stopped at a gas station and put a backward sweatshirt on the woman to cover her face before driving to his home at 1336 North El Dorado Ave, court documents report.
The woman said once they arrived at the Klamath Falls home, he put her into a makeshift cell in the garage he made out of cinder blocks and a metal door installed in reverse so it could not be opened from the inside, officials said.>>
<<According to authorities, the woman was locked in the cell for a few hours and after Zuberi left, she escaped by punching and banging on the door several times to break the welds.
Once outside the cell, the woman said she found Zuberi’s car and when she opened it, she found a handgun, which she took before fleeing the house and flagging down a motorist who called 911.>>
<<The next day, Zuberi was found in Reno, Nevada in a Walmart parking lot holding one of his children in the front seat of his car while talking to his wife, according to law enforcement.
Court documents say that authorities contacted him, and he refused to leave the vehicle and cut himself with a sharp object causing him to bleed heavily. The documents also said he tried to destroy his phone.
The child was unharmed.>>
<<A Klamath Falls man is in custody after a woman escaped from a makeshift cinder block cell in his garage, the FBI of Portland says.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation 29-year-old, Negasi Zuberi (aka Sakima, Justin Hyche and Justin Kouassi), traveled from his home in Klamath Falls to Seattle on July 15. Once in Seattle, Zuberi posed as an undercover police officer and paid the woman for sex.
The victim said Zuberi then sexually assaulted her multiple times during the 450-mile-trip back to his home in Klamath Falls. Once at his home, Zuberi moved her into the self-built cinder block cell at his home at 1336 N Eldorado Avenue in Klamath Falls.
On Wednesday evening, FOX 12 learned Zuberi has been renting the house from the Klamath Falls mayor, Carol Westfall, and her husband.>>
<<Zuberi has been charged with interstate kidnapping and transporting an individual across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. If convicted, Zuberi could face life in prison.>>
<<A Klamath Falls man is accused of posing as an undercover police officer, kidnapping a woman from Seattle, sexually abusing her and driving her to his home, where he locked her in a homemade cinderblock cell in his garage, according to a federal affidavit unsealed Wednesday.
Negasi Zuberi, 29, also known as Justin Joshua Hyche, was indicted on charges of interstate kidnapping and transporting a woman with intent to engage in sexual activity. He was arrested in Nevada last month and is expected to be returned to Oregon, where he’ll face prosecution.
The woman was able to escape from the cell by repeatedly beating on a metal screen security door and ripping through it with her hands until they bled, and now Zuberi has been linked to violent sexual assaults in at least three other states, according to the FBI and Klamath Falls police.
“Her will to survive may have actually saved many other women,” said Stephanie Shark, assistant special agent in charge of Oregon’s FBI.>>
<<Shortly after midnight on July 15, Zuberi approached a Washington woman near Aurora Avenue in Seattle and solicited her for sex, according to the affidavit.
After having sex with the woman, Zuberi flashed a badge, claimed to be an undercover cop, pointed a black-and-yellow Taser stun gun at the woman, handcuffed her and put iron shackles on her legs before moving her to the back seat of his car, an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit.
Zuberi claimed he was taking the woman to a police station but then drove south on Interstate 5 into Oregon, according to the affidavit. The woman spotted a map app on Zuberi’s cellphone and noticed it showed him as “2 hours and 4 minutes away” from his destination, leading her to recognize at that point that he wasn’t an officer and she was being kidnapped, according to the affidavit.
During the 450-mile trip to southern Oregon, he stopped and forced the woman to have sex, according to the affidavit.
About 7 a.m. that day, he pulled over at a truck stop north of Klamath Falls, pulled a hooded sweatshirt over the woman’s face and then drove her to his home in the 1300 block of North El Dorado Avenue in Klamath Falls, the affidavit said.
He placed her in a “makeshift cell” he had built in his garage made of cinder blocks and locked the metal door, according to the FBI. The woman, fearing for her life, repeatedly banged on the door, according to the affidavit.
She had been locked in the cell, illuminated by a single overhead lightbulb, for “at least a couple of hours” before she was able to bend the metal of a security screen door of the cell and crawl through a small opening, according to Klamath Falls Police Capt. Rob Reynolds.
Once out of the cell, she saw Zuberi’s car in the garage, opened one of the car’s doors, grabbed a handgun from inside and ran out, climbed over a fence and ran down the street, screaming for help before a passing motorist picked her up and called 911, according to the FBI and Klamath police. The woman was taken to Sky Lakes Medical Center for a forensic examination and treatment, the affidavit said.>>
<<Using cellphone technology, police tracked Zuberi to Reno, Nevada.
“The victim is strong and courageous, and right now she is physically OK,” Shark said. FBI victim service advocates are providing support and resources to the woman, she said.
Investigators went to the home and found blood on the wooden fence that the woman had scaled. Klamath Falls police obtained a warrant to search Zuberi’s home on July 16 and discovered the cell, according to the affidavit.
Police also found several handwritten notes, including one that had a drawing of how to dig a 100-foot deep concrete block cell with foam insulation, according to the affidavit. One note had a heading that read “Operation Take Over” and described plans to “leave phone at home” and “make sure they don’t have a bunch” of people in their life, it said. It ended, “You don’t want any type of investigation,” according to a photo of the note in the affidavit.>>
<<Authorities didn’t identify the other states where they said Zuberi has been linked to sexual assaults, citing their ongoing investigation.
Charges have not been filed in those cases, Shark said.
In some of the other cases, Zuberi posed as an undercover officer or solicited the services of sex workers and then violently sexually assaulted women, according to the FBI. Some of the encounters may have been filmed to make it appear as if the assault was consensual, and often the victims were threatened with retaliation if they were to notify the police, according to investigators.>>
<<Records also show he had lived in Vancouver, Washington, last year.
His landlord Abishek Kandar sought to evict him from the rental home in November, citing a list of violations that included unauthorized people inside the residence, unauthorized pit bulls on the property, the changing of the home’s locks without permission and damage to the home’s patio screen door, air conditioning insulation, door frames and patio blinds, according to court records. Someone who had contacted police in December said she felt he was “up to some shady” stuff and “about to do something bad,” according to the records.>>
THE FASH
<<Oregon has not been immune from the effects of the anti-LGBTQ+ moral panic and a more general rise in threats of political violence.
In early June, the city of Tigard canceled its Drag Queen Storytime and closed its public library due to threats of violence. In May, Atkinson Elementary School in southeast Portland canceled its Pride Fest due to threats made both on social media and via phone calls and emails to staff members. In March, a Vancouver brewery set to host a drag brunch was vandalized.
Oregon City successfully held its first ever Pride celebration on Saturday June 24, but not before it was forced to delay and relocate its vendor market and drag show, in part due to security concerns. Last year, the city of Keizer had to cancel its Pride event due to threats.
Lynette Shaw, board president of LGBTQ+ organization PFLAG Newberg, told the Mercury her group has dealt with its own set of issues, as it sparred with Mayor Bill Rosacker over a proclamation of Pride month in the city—a reminder of the extent to which communities are fighting for safety and acceptance on the ground daily that can feel far removed from legislative successes at the capitol. >>
<<In Wasco and Hood River counties, where Columbia Gorge Pride Alliance (CGPA) works, the threat has especially escalated in and around schools.>>
<<That was the case in Portland as well this spring when the celebration at Atkinson was canceled. A Portland Public Schools (PPS) spokesperson said the district does not keep data on threats made against the LGBTQ+ community, but said the district is endeavoring to support its LGBTQ+ students and staff members. >>
<<While it’s difficult to ascertain exactly how common threats against LGBTQ+ events are, Shaw said her organization has had to be strategic about when and how they advertise events and draw up safety plans due to the threat posed by far right groups.
“Those groups are emboldened,” Shaw said. “That gives the queer community an increasingly worse case of a kind of tightening feeling in the chest—that we are being targeted by people who are not afraid of real violence.”
But Portela thinks the right-wing campaign against queer and trans communities over the last year-plus is having another effect, too.
“When I moved to The Dalles five years ago from Portland, there was nary a rainbow in sight,” Portela said. “There was a secret queer Facebook group, you couldn’t find a queer person for the life of you. You had to know somebody who knew somebody to get in. And now, with this increase in national hateful rhetoric, you’re seeing rainbow flags pop up all over town.”
For Portela, that was made abundantly clear earlier this month. On June 3, CGPR was set to host a drag queen story time at the Hood River Hotel.
The night before the event, while Portela and other CGPR employees were attending a burlesque show, they received word that a group of people were planning to protest the story hour and had specifically tagged people involved with the event on social media.
Portela said the CGPR team huddled to figure out whether they needed to cancel the event. They ultimately decided to post on their social media, spreading the information and asking people to show up at the hotel the next day to “form a human barrier” between attendees and protesters. >>
<<The next day, as the event approached, the small group of protesters outside the hotel were vastly outnumbered by community members who lined the sidewalk of the hotel’s entrance and cheered each time parents and their children walked in, so they couldn’t hear what the protesters were shouting at them from across the street.
“It was pretty sketch,” Portela said. “We were really nervous. And instead of [canceling the event], we had so much community show up and protect us from those people. That’s what active allyship looks like—a lot of the people who showed up weren’t even queer. They were just community members who said, ‘That’s unacceptable.’”
CGPA also reported slurs hurled at participants of a Pride parade in The Dalles in late June, though the incident didn’t deter or interrupt the parade.
For Shaw, there are parallels to the region’s experiences dealing with the Proud Boys and other alt-right groups in recent years. Portela sounded a similar alarm.
“I think there needs to be more active allyship,” Portela said. “I think it can’t just be queer and trans people fighting the fight.”>>
<<U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, reported spending over $45,000 this year on home security using campaign donations, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus is one of many congressional leaders who have ramped up spending on personal security, an effort that has increased since the deadly riot on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and the hyper-polarization of the political climate.
As a national figure in U.S. politics and a chair of the 104-member progressive caucus, Rep. Jayapal never expected to focus so keenly on security during work.
“I’ve had threats against my life, including a man showing up with a gun at my door, and I never in a million years thought that I would need to take such strong steps to protect my safety and security just to be able to do my job, the job that people elected me to do,” Jayapal said in an interview with The Seattle Times.>>
<<Erin Chlopak, the senior director of campaign at the D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center, wrote in a statement that the FEC has allowed officeholders to spend funds on security due to a “heightened threat environment” facing members of Congress, but that might change “if the threat environment should diminish significantly.”>>
<<The congresswoman noted that because of heightened levels of threats toward her entire team, they had to adjust security measures. She still insists on attending events in person, notably town halls, but the campaign recommends constituents book appointments before visiting her office.>>
<<In early July, Brett Forsell, a Seattle man, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor stalking and was sentenced to 364 days in King County Jail after he was arrested in front of Jayapal’s home over a year ago with a loaded .40-caliber handgun. He was ordered to have no contact with Jayapal and was prohibited from possessing firearms for eight years.>>
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2023/08/nw-congresswoman-spends-45k-on-security-since-jan-6.html
<<Conservative writer Andy Ngo’s lawsuit against Portland activists got going yesterday. Nothing happened yet, but stay tuned. I am preemptively expecting shenanigans.>>
PRISON
<<A former Oregon Department of Corrections assistant director has filed a $1.6 million whistleblower lawsuit against the agency, alleging she faced retaliation and was fired when she reported concerns about her superiors taking illegal actions in several instances.
In the lawsuit, Nathaline Frener, a former assistant director of the agency’s Correctional Services Division, describes alleged turmoil and backstabbing within the agency, where she worked from 2019 until July 2022.
The lawsuit, filed in Marion County Circuit Court, alleges that in three cases agency bosses tried to flout the law. In each instance, the former director of the agency, Colette Peters, was allegedly involved. Peters is now director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Peters is not listed as a defendant in the suit.
Frener alleges that Peters in November 2021 had the agency’s IT department check employee emails in an unsuccessful bid to find out who leaked then-Gov. Kate Brown’s memo about inmate sentence commutations to The Oregonian/OregonLive. Frener says she told her bosses the memo “was a public record and DOC should not be investigating employees without sending out appropriate notices.”
Peters was sworn into her federal post on Aug. 2, 2022. Four days earlier, Peters sent Frener a letter stating she was terminating her and taking the leadership of the Correctional Service Division in a different direction, the lawsuit says.>>
<<In another case, Frener’s bosses allegedly pressured her to come up with a plan to illegally retaliate against another employee and block her from returning to the agency after she was laid off. Instead, Frener warned her bosses that that action would be illegal.
The worker in question, Gina Raney-Eatherly, later filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the agency in a whistleblower case after she raised concerns about the use of grant money and the accuracy of another manager’s legislative testimony. A jury awarded her and another former employee $2.4 million in April.
Frener alleges in her lawsuit that the top brass at the corrections department restructured the agency so they could lay off Raney-Eatherly.
Then another position opened up at the agency that Raney-Eatherly was first in line to fill under the state’s rules for laid-off employees to return. Frener alleges her bosses urged her to keep the position open until the two-year window passed that allows workers to return from a layoff.
Frener resisted those moves, saying they were illegal and hired Raney-Eatherly anyway, the lawsuit says. Afterward, Frener alleges, her supervisors pressured her to come up with a plan to get rid of Raney-Eatherly before her return to the agency. Frener said she told her bosses she would treat the worker like any other agency employee.>>
<<In another example, Frener alleges top agency managers circumvented the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for state employees by instructing their workers to “get religion” and claim an exemption. A human resources official also told managers the agency would drag out investigations into unvaccinated employees so they could keep working, the lawsuit alleges.
Frener alleges that after she questioned that practice, Peters called her and defended the managers who encouraged religious exemptions, the lawsuit says. According to the lawsuit, Peters said the agency has no idea what is in the “hearts and minds” of people seeking a religious exemption.
In November 2021, Frener was placed on administrative leave and was told staff complained about her, the lawsuit says. During the investigation, Frener alleges the complaints came from other staffers who complained about Raney-Eatherly’s return to the agency. The lawsuit says the complaints against Frener were untrue.
In February 2022, Frener told an investigator she believed she was sent home because of her support of Raney-Eatherly and her opposition to the agency’s resistance to the vaccine mandate and investigations of employees without proper notice.
In April 2022, while on leave, Frener testified in Raney-Eatherly’s lawsuit against the agency and said she believed she was facing retaliation for bringing her back to the corrections department.
Three months later, Frener was fired.
Her lawsuit seeks nearly $109,000 in lost wages, another $1 million in lost future wages and pension benefits and $500,000 in other compensatory damages for the anxiety and loss of enjoyment of life.>>
THE NOT-COPS
<<As supporters of Portland Street Response continue to pressure City Hall to support the embattled program (they’ve gathered nearly 11,000 signatures in a petition drive), details have emerged about one of the paths not taken. In June, when the city and Multnomah County were renegotiating the terms of the Joint Office of Homeless Services, which both help fund, Fire Commissioner Rene Gonzalez floated a last-minute proposal: The Joint Office, which has vastly underspent its budget, should allocate part of any unspent funds to support PSR and another Portland Fire & Rescue program called CHAT that provides medical support to Portlanders on the margin. Currently, the fire bureau is struggling to fund its traditional operations as well as the two new programs, which often help some of the same constituents the Joint Office seeks to aid. But Gonzalez’s pitch came to the county late and without support from Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office, so it is not part of the one-year extension of the operating agreement the county announced June 9. “Only raising this important question in a much broader amendment the day before a City Council vote is not in the spirit of collaboration and discussion needed to solve the complex problems unique to PSR,” county spokeswoman Julie Sullivan-Springhetti says. “We are assessing options for long-term funding and service delivery, and we’ve reached out to stakeholders and county staff to figure out how to make this city program a reliable community resource.”>>
https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/08/02/murmurs-county-nixed-street-response-aid/
HIT AND RUN
<<Washington state’s new Hit-and-Run Alert System will officially begin operations Tuesday.
The new system was authorized by the state legislature this year and will be active for a two-year pilot period. It will essentially use the cooperation of many different law enforcement agencies to find the drivers responsible for hit-and-run crashes that result in a death or someone being seriously hurt.
“Last year, our state saw over 300 hit-and-run collisions resulting in serious injury or death. In many of those situations, information about the fleeing vehicle was available that, if widely disseminated, might have helped us find a dangerous driver,” said Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste. “We are working with our partners in law enforcement across the state and in highway safety at WSDOT to get the word out about these often devastating crimes.”
For a hit-and-run alert to be active, the incident has to meet three requirement:
The incident must result in serious injury or death.
There must be enough descriptive information to help locate the suspect car, like a full or partial license plate number, a description of the car, any possible damage, or a location.
The incident must be reported to and investigated by police.
Once the alerts are generated, they will be sent out to those who sign up to get them. They will also be posted on social media, and if there is enough information about the car being searched for, Washington state’s transportation department will use their electronic highway signs to aid in finding the dangerous driver.>>
https://www.kptv.com/2023/08/01/washington-state-launches-hit-and-run-alert-system/
HOMELESSNESS
<<Deschutes National Forest Supervisor Holly Jewkes had concerns about people being cleared from homeless camps in July. She had seen how previous clearings by the city of Bend led to more people living on federal forest land, where restrictions aren’t as severe.
The city of Bend and Deschutes County were days away from removing encampments on Hunnell Road and Juniper Ridge. If a large number of people moved, Jewkes feared, it might increase the risk of wildfires, as summer heat pushed the risk to more extreme levels.
So on July 11, she wrote a letter to Bend City Manager Eric King and Deschutes County Administrator Nick Lelack. She asked them to reconsider the removals and even called their plans “not a sustainable or viable solution.”
The city ultimately opted to push ahead, displacing dozens of people in the camps, some of whom had lived there for years, and the Forest Service said it’s already seeing a small increase in people since the removal. >>
<<Since the letter was sent, OPB has learned the U.S. Forest Service and Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office are engaged in discussions to determine whether the Sheriff’s Office can legally enforce camping codes — either local or federal — on federal forest land.
In the letter, Jewkes called for greater cooperation between government agencies on the issue. She said the Forest Service does not have the power to remove people living on the land in the same way as local governments.>>
<<The concerns in the letter — that camp removals shuffle people from one area to another — are common. Service providers, residents and some local officials have said such removals will only lead to more removals in the future.>>
<<The cooperation that Jewkes seeks could take the form of increased law enforcement presence in the Deschutes National Forest. Both the Forest Service and the county have declined to offer specifics, but said they are legally reviewing their options.>>
<<It’s unclear under what laws an Oregon sheriff might be able to enforce camping codes on federal lands.>>
https://www.opb.org/article/2023/08/03/bend-homeless-camps-hunnel-road-juniper-ridge-sweep-removal/
<<It’s called the Sunderland RV Safe Park and it’s located one street over from Northeast 33rd. The Safe Park is part of the city’s Safe Rest Villages program and the only village for vehicles.
It opened in July, and it can hold 55 vehicles. So far, nine have moved in. More are expected to later in the week.>>
<<Word on the street about the site wasn’t great.
“I call it jail. That’s basically what it is,” said Andrew who’s lived in an RV on Northeast 33rd for six years. >>
<<The city’s Safe Rest Village Team told KGW the nine that have moved into the village are fully functional. Homeless people also need to have some form of proof of the right to use the vehicle and a valid driver’s license to drive it. These are requirements many homeless people say are impossible for them to meet.
“I can say that none of these RVs are going to go in there… people down here do not have any kind of paperwork for their RV,” said Angel who’s lived on Northeast 33rd for two months.
“Most of these are abandoned from places, people picked them up on the side of the road, or they were left by somebody else,” added Ralph who lives next to Angel. >>
<<“It’s a controlled environment, they control you…they got to let everybody get in there you can’t put a label on people,” said Ralph.
“No one wants to go in there because of the rules. No one wants to be told what to do like that,” added Angel.
The Salvation Army runs the site. Their spokesperson said they weren’t sure if they had a list of site rules yet.>>
<<On Wednesday, Portland City Council unanimously passed the use of more than $6.5 million in state emergency funding to get the first large temporary alternative shelter up and running in Southeast Portland.
There were two major upfront one-time costs including more than $2.5 million for the pods funded by the state, plus $1.5 million dollars of city money for site development.
The rest of the funds pay for the first six months of operation. So far, the total cost of the site has exceeded $8 million.
The site is just one of six large sanctioned campsites the city plans to create.
It appears the annual ongoing operating cost for the sanctioned campsite will be more than $7.5 million but that includes 24/7 staffing; homeless services; meals; hygiene; client services; maintenance and pest control.
Depending on how quickly people transition in and out of this temporary site, KOIN 6 News estimates it will cost about $20,000- $30,000 per person per year.
The mayor says with the status quo, the city has been spending $300 million per year on homeless as is — including sweeps, clean-ups, litter collection, graffiti removal, public safety issues and fire response. >>
<<The site, which opened last week, can hold up to 200 guests. So far, 40 people are already moved in and they’re onboarding at least five new people a day.>>
DRUGS
<< The Portland Police Bureau has had a bike squad since the late ‘90s, and over the years, the team has been used for different purposes.
At the moment, officers said one of their main focuses is a growing drug problem in the community. The number of overdoses they see daily has led patrol officers to carry two doses of Narcan at all times.
“It’s the new normal,” Officer David Baer, with the Central Precinct Bike Squad, said. “We see volumes of fentanyl that are unfathomable four, five years ago. Now, all roads lead to fentanyl and it’s essentially become my full-time job.”
Baer said the team currently has four officers, and “we operate basically as the de facto downtown drug squad.”
Baer said when he pulls out on his bike to hit the streets, he commonly makes arrests with his team by surveying areas downtown. He said that it’s common to see people rapidly deal drugs like fentanyl. At 80¢ to a dollar for a pill, Baer explained that it’s becoming increasingly more affordable and available.
He went as far to say that it has taken over the downtown drug scene.
“I’d say 90% of the drugs I see on a daily basis are fentanyl based.”>>
<<Officer Baer would like to warn the public to stay away from drugs on the street, no matter how confident you are they’re safe.
<<“99% of them turn up positive for fentanyl,” he said. “Even drugs like cocaine and meth. Don’t trust anything on the street.”
He went on to say his team could use upwards of 20 more people. However, the Bureau’s limited staffing means that’s not something on the table right now.>>
https://www.kptv.com/2023/08/02/fentanyl-overdoses-new-normal-ppb-says/
SHOT COP
<<A Washington County deputy who was shot several times while serving an eviction last week has “multiple surgeries ahead of him,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputy Charles Dozé was shot seven times July 26. Three shots hit his body armor, two shots hit each of his arms, and two shots hit his head, according to sheriff’s officials. They say the shots boke bones in his upper left and right arms, and he lost his left eye and multiple teeth.
He continues to recover in a hospital.
On the day of the shooting, Dozé and other deputies tried to contact Kristafer Graves, 34, at his apartment in Tualatin, according to police, when Graves opened fire on the deputies. At least one deputy returned fire and Graves retreated into his apartment, they said.
A SWAT team responded to the scene. After entering his apartment, the team found Graves dead in the bathroom, though police said it’s unclear if he was shot by the deputies or if the wound was self-inflicted.>>
https://www.opb.org/article/2023/08/02/washington-county-deputy-recovering-after-being-shot/
<<A Washington County deputy is still recovering from being shot while serving a court-ordered eviction notice in Tualatin last week, according to authorities.
Officials say Civil Deputy Charles Dozé awaits several surgeries at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center after he was shot seven times on July 26.
Although body armor stopped three bullets in his upper torso, he was shot once in both arms – breaking them. Two shots in his head also caused Dozé to suffer the loss of his left eye and multiple teeth.>>
<<On July 28, Dozé was listed as being in serious but stable condition, officials said — noting the deputy wanted to share that he is working hard to recover.>>
<<Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Dozé is still recovering in the hospital, one week after he was shot while serving an eviction notice at an apartment in Tualatin. The sheriff’s office released a photo of Dozé in the hospital, along with new details about his injuries Wednesday afternoon.
Dozé was shot a total of seven times last Wednesday, according to the sheriff’s office. He was shot three times in his upper torso, but his body armor stopped each of those bullets. He was also shot in both arms, breaking his left and right upper arm bones. Dozé was also shot twice in the head, losing his left eye and multiple teeth. He also has a graze wound about six inches down the ride side of his head.
The sheriff’s office said he has multiple surgeries ahead of him.
On Wednesday, a week after the shooting, his daughter spoke with KGW about her dad’s recovery.
“My dad was the first one in [the apartment], and immediately got shot.
How do you even prepare for that?” said Kaela Dozé. “My brother, my mom and I — we were able to see him. And he actually woke up for us after all of that anesthesia, getting his left eye removed, and all of his teeth.”
She said one of the bullets went through the top of his head, behind his eye, out the top of his mouth and through the right side of his jaw.>>
<<On July 26, Dozé was delivering an eviction notice at the Forest Rim Apartment complex in Tualatin when a suspect, later identified as Kristafer James Graves, shot through the door and hit him, according to Beaverton police. A deputy returned fire after Graves began shooting, police said. Law enforcement officials have not said which deputy shot back.>>
<<Graves was found dead in the apartment bathroom with a gunshot wound. Law enforcement officials have also not released any new information about whether Graves’ gunshot wound was self-inflicted or if he was hit by a deputy. >>
COLD CASE
<<A Vancouver woman whose mother was murdered in 1989 – and whose father was convicted of the execution-style slaying – revealed in a court filing Monday the name of the man she believes actually killed her mom.
Pooneh Entezari Gray, 55, has spent the past three decades conducting her own investigation into the death of her mother, Eftekhar “Effie” Entezari. Mohammad Entezari, who died in 2019 and was known as Mike, was found guilty of the murder in 1990.
The lawsuit is the culmination of Gray’s exhaustive quest to clear her father’s name and achieve what she considers true justice for her mother.
In the civil-suit filing in Clark County Superior Court, she alleges that Vancouver resident Viktor Pell is the killer. She links him to the crime through DNA that Gray’s team of investigators collected.
The newly updated complaint, originally filed in 2019, does not name the people that Gray, 55, believes hired Pell to murder her mother, but it suggests she knows who they are. The filing states: “They conspired to kill Effie to hide their conspiracy to profit from the use of Mike and Effie’s money and resources.”>>
<<Pell – an immigrant from Iran, like Effie and Mike Entezari – is now 85. He has never been charged in the case and does not have a criminal record in Washington or Oregon.
The new filing calls Pell “a former police officer during the time of the Shah of Iran.”>>
<<Mike Entezari, a 55-year-old engineering instructor when his wife was murdered, spent 16 years in prison for the crime. He maintained his innocence for the rest of his life.>>
<<Based in part on the DNA evidence provided by Gray’s team, which includes private investigators as well as forensics specialists, Clark County prosecutors agreed to allow new ballistics testing using technology that wasn’t available at the time of Mike Entezari’s trial.
Ballistics experts used 3-D imaging and other techniques to analyze the spent bullet that prosecutors in 1990 said killed Effie Entezari.
Those tests, conducted by independent forensics professionals and paid for by Gray, showed that the gun and spent bullet used as evidence in the prosecution do not match, according to Rocky Edwards, one of the firearms examiners who inspected the bullet and Mike Entezari’s gun.>>
<<Mike and Effie Entezari were in the midst of a divorce at the time of the murder, making Mike Entezari an obvious suspect. But hand swabs and nail scrapings taken about 15 hours after the shooting did not indicate Mike Entezari had recently fired a gun. There was no blood on his clothing. And a handprint found inches from where the shooting occurred did not belong to him.>>
<<While the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office considers the new evidence, the civil suit is moving forward. The amended filing asks for a jury trial.
The suit states that in the months before her 1989 murder, Effie Entezari, newly separated from her husband, befriended a group of local Iranian immigrants who were involved in criminal activities.
Gray believes her mother found out what her new friends were doing, which included stealing from her, and so the conspirators decided they had to kill her.>>
<<Convinced that Mike Entezari was being railroaded, Gray, then 21, began her own investigation just days after the murder, first by knocking on doors at her mother’s apartment building and asking Effie Entezari’s neighbors if they had seen or remembered anything.>>