dant
The Living Force
Found this in the Oregonian, 9/22/2006, ppg. "C4"
Oregonian, by Maxine Bernstein
since only a toxicology test wil be used? Interesting.
Oregonian, by Maxine Bernstein
So a taser was used but I'll bet tasers will not be associated with the cause of death,Oregonian said:Odd actions led officers to man who died in custody, police say
Portland police say they stopped to talk to James Phillip Chasses Jr. Sunday
night after noticing him acting odd and possiblty urinating on the street.
Police are continuing to investigate the 42-year old man's death in police
custody but released a few more details Thursday, after at least two witnesses
filed complaints of excessive force with the city's Independent Police Review
Division.
Three officers at a traffic stop in the area of Northwest 18th Avenue and
Everett Street first spotted Chasse and suspected he may have been under
the influence of alcohol or drugs or suffering a mental disorder. Later, they
saw him again and thought Chasse was urinating on the street.
Police approached him, and Chasse ran off. Three officers ran after him.
According to a police statement, "as they reached him an officer pushed
Chasse in the back with is forearm, which caused Chasse to stumble to
the ground."
Witnesses Randall Stuart and Constance Doolan, who each filed seperate
complaints against the police this week, said the three officers forcefully
knocked the man to the ground at Northwest 13th Avenue and Everett.
Police say Chasse fought with the three officers as they tried to take him
into custody. During the fight, police say, he bit Sgt. Kyle Nice and attempted
to bite another officer. One of the officers placed his Taser gun to Chasse's
torso to stun him, Detective Divison Cmdr. Cliff Madison said.
Police say it had no effect on Chasse.
Witnesses, though, said police repeatedly kicked Chasse after he fell to the
pavement and bit an officer. After being shocked, Chasse lost conciousness
but was still breathing. Suddenly, he stopped moving and screaming, witnesses
said.
Police called for paramedics when Chasse "appeared to have lost conciousness,"
a police release said Thursday. An ambulance crew and Portland Fire Bureau
workers found Chasse's vital signs to be normal, police said.
Witnesses said they were disturbed that Chasse was bleeding from the mouth
and wasn't taken to a hospital for more medical attention.
The officers took Chasse to jail on accusations of assulting a police officer and
resisting arrest. At the jail booking facility, nursing staff evaluated Chasse and
determined he should receive further medical attention before being booked,
police said Thursday.
Officers drove Chasse to Portland Adventist Hospital, but on the way, Chasse
slumped in the back seat and lost conciousness. The officers and medical workers
tried to revive him at Northeast 33rd Avenue and Clackamas Street but could not.
The Multnomah County medical examiner's office is awaiting toxicology results
before releasing the cause of death. All officers involved have been interviewed.
The case will be reviewed by the proscecutors and a grand jury.
A family member and a friend said Chasse had suffered from a psychotic mental
disorder since his teenage years.
"He was in and out of half-way houses and acute care settings with various
medical/psychiatric diagnoses and treatments prescribed," hist aunt Julie Chasse
Cargill wrote in a letter. "The life of James Jr. was a sad struggle, But, how much
sadder for this man to have died 'in custody'.'"
Jason Renaud, a volunteer with the Mental Health Association of Portland, said he
had gone to school with Chasse at the Metropolitan Learning Center, "This is a
sad day for Jim, for hist family, for all the people who helpped him over the
years," Renaud said.
since only a toxicology test wil be used? Interesting.