Questions about Violence Injuring Portland Police and Suspect’s Death

A violent weekend resulted in several Portland Police officers hospitalized, a suspect dead, and people asking questions about why it happened.

A video shows two Portland Police officers trying to arrest a man they’re investigating for domestic violence.  It happened early Sunday near the intersection of Southeast 148th Avenue and Clinton Street. They fight each other, and fall to the ground. A gunshot that appears to be from the suspect’s gun, fires.   The officers disarm the man. Then an officer shoots and kills Wednesday Lapin’s brother.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that cop was very, very excessive with her six bullets,” Lapin said. “I’m sorry, but at the point he was shot he was unarmed already. They had taken his gun and he didn’t have it.”

But Sgt. Aaron Schmautz, the president of the Portland Police Association tells news partner KGW the two officers were almost murdered.  Schmautz put the blame on a staffing crisis.

“If we have three or four officers there, that subject may not be so willing to pull out a gun and shoot at police,” he said.  “But when he sees there’s two and it’s dark and the street is dark and nobody’s around, that level of courage to take that violent act rises.”

He believes low staffing levels also played a part in two other incidents over the weekend. Around 8:30am Sunday, a police officer — who was on duty that morning because of staffing shortages — was hospitalized after a suspect in a stolen vehicle investigation ran him over.

Two more officers were hospitalized with injuries they suffered while trying to arrest somebody. At the time, they were waiting for backup from a short-staffed bureau.