Operators, you are fare INFORMERS not fare ENFORCERS. When will you ever get it?
Somber Anniversary: A Decade Since the Police Shooting of Jose Mejia Poot | Blogtown, PDX
Trimess
Thursday, August 16, 2012
REMEMBER THE CASE OF JOSE MEJA POOT
Operators, you are fare INFORMERS not fare ENFORCERS. When will you ever get it?
Somber Anniversary: A Decade Since the Police Shooting of Jose Mejia Poot | Blogtown, PDX
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Today, April 1, 2011 marks 10 years to the day since day laborer Jose Santos Victor Mejia Poot was shot and killed by Portland Police Officers responding to a 9-1-1 call inside a mental hospital. Such an anniversary seems a good time to examine where we were as a City then and what has changed.
Mr. Mejia did not have a mental illness, but rather was suffering a seizure from epilepsy when he found himself 20 cents shy of bus fare two days earlier. Officers called to the bus dragged Mr. Mejia out and reportedly beat him. Once released from jail, Mr. Mejia, a Native American from the Yucatan peninsula who did not speak English nor much Spanish, confused and penniless, was misdiagnosed as having a mental illness and brought to Gateway center on March 30, 2001.
Two days later, a staff nurse called the police after Mr. Mejia got out of his room and allegedly threatened staff with a pencil. Officers responded, including the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) trained officer who knew how to de-escalate a situation. Mr. Mejia was returned to his room without incident. A few hours later, he got out again, the nurse called again, but the CIT officer was no longer on duty. The officers who responded confronted Mr. Mejia, who allegedly grabbed the aluminum push rod from a door, and they shot and killed him.
Post a Comment