I'm sorry, I just don't follow the Keaton Otis thing. How can his parents possibly be upset with the police?

They Tazed him, he shot them, they killed him.

His "mood disorder" notwithstanding, they pretty much did everything by the book. I sure as hell hope if I ever have the stupidity or lack of judgment to ever shoot a cop, and get gunned down in the obvious barrage of retaliatory bullets from the other cops around, my parents don't go crying to the police about it.

I fail to see how this "mood disorder" thing is nothing but a cop-out, if you'll forgive the pun and my lack of sensitivity.

It just seems blatant to me.

Jack is completely right. The parents of Aaron Campbell have a legitmate greivance that is being tainted by Keaton Otis' death. We will never have police accountability if we don't distinguish between excessive use of force and necessary use of force. Remember, if the officers hadn't killed Keaton Otis, Keaton would have killed them. Aaron Campbell did not try to murder anybody, Keaton Otis did. It is an insult to the Campbell family to lump the two together. Can you tell us why you don't address the Jordan Case situation?

@Jack: I'm guessing they're upset because they killed him.

I can't believe the ridiculous stretch on "barbeque Campbell." Of course they were talking about the family, not "the Campbell who was burned" whatever that might mean.

@ Hannity: I'm not defending all the actions the cops took on Campbell, but I will point out that all info they had at the time was that Campbell was barricaded in a house, with a gun, threatening people. (as I remember it, anyway)

In their view, they didn't have time to consult with a team of social workers and psychologists, they thought they were actively preventing someone from harming someone else.

If the Albina Ministerial Alliance wants to effectively resolve the issues around the PPB, it shouldn't conflate the Aaron Campbell and Keaton Otis incidents. The circumstances surrounding both shootings are too different to fit into one narrative of police brutality. While one man was unarmed and surrendering, the other was an instigator that acted in a belligerent manner that made the police react with deadly force.

I truly feel bad for the family. I understand they're grieving. But, they're looking for an answer they're unlikely to get. It's very simple. Don't shoot at the police and they *probably* won't shoot at you. Shoot at the police and they *definitely* will shoot at you.

Has anyone considered the possibility that Keaton Otis committed suicide by police? It happens. Mood disorder. Tazered but shoots anyway. We'll never know but...

You have a point, Campbell does seem to have created the situation with the intent of being killed by the officers, but my understanding is that there was miscommunication between the officer who shot him and the officers who were diffusing the situation. Also, he never threatened an officer, never pointed a gun at an officer and certainly never shot an officer (to the best of my knowledge). That seems to be the big difference. That's a world away from shooting a cop twice in the legs with a shotgun (not registered, I'm guessing) with other cops surrounding you with their guns drawn. Sad is it may be, it is not the same thing.

I didn't know Otis used a shotgun. Where did you get that information. Most people don't drive around with a loaded shotgun in their car. And I agree, the two shootings were from entirely different sets of circumstances.

The Otis parents acknowledged their son’s mood disorder. Direct quote: "our thoughts and prayers are with Officer Burley and the other officers involved.” The quote from the dad in the Merc could as easily be referencing gang culture as lack of mental health treatment as cops following black people around. All he said was that he wants people to stop getting killed. Seems a fair request.

The HEAT team created the situation with Otis. Why were they doing anything other than giving him a ticket? Why taze him? Why order him out of the car. Look at HEAT and you will get the answer.

Anarchists are still complete idiots, of course.

Jack: "How can his parents possibly be upset with the police?"

Their son is dead. I'm sure they are filled with all sorts of extreme emotions that aren't necessarily rational.

Number Six,
I agree with you in general. I don't know all the details of the Otis case in particular, but in general, cops are out searching for young black men, and that's why they end up getting mixed up in so many of these situations with young black men. If they weren't so hellbent on going after this demographic, they would naturally have far fewer encounters go wrong.

Lots of white people drive aroudn with drugs and guns in their car, but we don't hear as much about those cases ending this way.

The Portland Police have a reputation, well earned both anecdotally and historically for a century, for treating things like it's the wild west. Some of these things, from what I've read from history, are unofficial institutional problems stemming all the way back to the Civil War when the professional authorities more or less cleared out and the law enforcement that was left was pretty irregular and openly corrupt. Each generation trained the other and some of these things remain. An acquaintance of mine became a cop and, in training, was reprimanded for not getting "hands on" when another one got "hands on." The point being that it's a socially created institutional problem we have to overcome. There's plenty of reason for the parents of the victim of the police to suspect unfair play based on prior conduct. Really, the institution is going to have to step up and solve the social and historic problems before it can earn the trust and respect of the community.

I'm not, at the moment, saying anyone is right or wrong. But there is a social and historic problem that needs to be addressed. Though, I'm strictly arm-chair at this shit, so what the hell do I know?

@ CC & Blabby -

Poor choice of words from me.

What I meant to say is that being on the outside looking in, I hope they certainly aren't blaming the police for their son's death, who were merely returning fire. However, since I'm an outsider, I can completely understand their grievance over their recently deceased son.

@ Number Six,

You should go read the police report. HEAT didn't provoke anyone nor are they to blame for being shot at and defending themselves. Cops are not always bad. By "not always" I mean like 15% of the time.

I dont care what anyone says but the PPD were wrong for shooting a person over 30 times when Keaton was propably already dead after the first 5 or so shots! That is not an acceptable tactic. And Im not saying the officer shouldnt have shot back in defense but come on now no one knows what really happened! Theres two sides to a story and unfortunetly Keatons not here to tell his!! And its sad that the police can just shoot to kill. Keaton probably was in fear of his life and he had all rights to be after the way Campbell was murdered!

I haven't heard any information from the press stating Keaton's parents are upset with the police. Actually I only know of one statement they made to the press. Where are you people getting this idea from? Hopefully not from this article. The man in the photo above is not Keaton's father and his name is not Fred Otis. My suggestion to Sara Mirk is to know who it is you are quoting when writing an article. Look up all the other news articles and news reports you will find that Keaton's father is not named Fred Otis. And, furthermore he (Keaton's father) or his wife (Keaton's mother) have not shown their faces in the press like the man above in this article.

Michelle

I Knew keaton very well and we will always share a special connection. Any body who truly knows Keaton had no gun. This has nothing to with mental illness we know that

I don't believe he had a gun either and I did not know him! The PPD can lie and cover up stuff because they can and know they will get away with it. Keaton to them is just one less black man they have to worry about. Whether he had a mental condition or not the PPD are know for killing people without aknowleding their mental state even when they were aware of it and a couple of them didnt have weapons and thats not okay! This is going to get worse and worse with time and then all hell is goin to break loose! Im scared for my son, hate to say it but I dont trust the police they are just as much criminal as any other!

I wonder how many police officers in Oregon (and in the United States for that matter) kill people while on duty; which city has the highest rate of total instances where police conflict ends in a suspect being shot; and how many cities openly recruit racists? How many minorities by percentage live in Portland?

Maybe we should all (citizens and police officers) work on conflict resolution. Also maybe the people who are paid to protect us should find other ways of protecting us that don't involve killing us. I hope that all police officers want to avoid at all costs killing someone.

If they want to protect and serve they should want to work with the community to resolve these issues. Police officers need to expect that some people are kind of "crazy" and in our society we tolerate crazy people (not every crazy action).

All people (including people in power) need to follow the basic laws of human decency (don't murder people, don't rape people, don't steal, don't pay for a handjob using public moeny and then arrest the woman who gave you the handjob, don't pull people over for being black, etc.).

There may be many arguments that can poke holes in this logic BUT we are talking about people dying.

Regardless of how you say it, when public servants isolate you, antagonize you, want to search your car for pot, taze you, then shoot you, it isn't black and white. You should always err on the side of not killing someone, (even when you receive a non-fatal gun-shot wound) if only for karmas sake...

Finally, why would anyone ever 'validate' a parents grief? All parents can grieve for the loss of their children, that is another one of those tricky human rights we all conveniently forget about.

To those of you stating Keaton had no gun, are you insinuating that the police shot one of their own in both legs?

Excuse me, C, but if I am a police officeer and someone shoots me with a shotgun, I'm going to shoot back. And I will keep shooting until my assailant doesn't move anymore, or I'm out of ammo. To even suggest that the police officer should not have returned fire is just ludicrous.

Also, if Mr Otis hadn't been driving like an idiot, most likely he wouldn't have been pulled over.

If driving like an idiot was a capital offense there's plenty of dorks who would die during rush hour.