Just in time for the 11 o’clock news last night, Portland police sent out a pair of Occupy Portland-related news releases.
One was funny (except, obviously, for the mother who wondered where the hell her kid got off to)—about a nine-year-old who walked off after making art with a woman named “Rainbow.” The other was merely unsurprising, especially now that cops have said they’ll be enforcing drug and drink laws at the camp: a pot-dealing arrest.
I wonder if this means everyone will forget about one of the cool things the occupiers did yesterday, marching into Old Town to support a homeless camp also in the city cross-hairs.
(I normally frown on the police bureau’s love of quotation marks. But somehow, I’m totally okay with “Rainbow.”)
At 9:00 p.m. this evening, Tuesday October 18, 2011, Portland Police officers working in the area of the “Occupy Portland” encampment at Lownsdale Square were notified that a 9-year-old girl was missing and hadn’t been seen for approximately 2 hours. Officers received information that the girl was possibly with an adult female who was doing art with the child in the “art tent” at “Occupy Portland.” The adult female was known only as “Rainbow.”
Several officers began an area check for the girl and “Rainbow” and Missing Persons Detectives were consulted. At 9:37 p.m., the girl was located at Southwest 4th and Taylor with “Rainbow.” The girl was then reunited with her mother in Lownsdale Square, where mom and child have been staying since the beginning of “Occupy Portland.”
After talking with the child and “Rainbow,” no foul play was suspected. Officers will document the information in an official police report.
This afternoon, Tuesday October 18, 2011, at 3:14 p.m., Portland Police officers working the area of the “Occupy Portland” encampment at Chapman Park observed a man whom they thought was drinking alcohol in the park. Officers approached the man who concealed the glass container he was holding. Officers asked the man to walk out of the park with them to talk more privately.
The man voluntarily walked out of the park with the officers then showed the officers what he was concealing: a mason jar containing several baggies of suspected marijuana.
The man was identified as 36-year-old Timothy Soldani of Tillamook, Oregon. Soldani was arrested and booked into the Multnomah County Jail on charges of Delivery of Marijuana and Drugs in Parks Prohibited (Portland City Code).
Bail is set at $22,500.
“Officers approached the man who concealed the glass container he was holding. Officers asked the man to walk out of the park with them to talk more privately.”
Is this a situation where he could have asked if he was under arrest & if he needed to consent to a search, and he waived that right?
Classy folks down at Occupy Portland:
From a simple Google search
In 1996, Soldani was convicted for driving under the influence after crashing his car through the yards of three houses. He served 2 days in jail.
In February 2000, Soldani was cited for driving under the influence. In March, he was cited again and his license was revoked.
On June 24, 2000, Soldani, driving drunk and without a license, hit a runner, Buffalo Zobel. Zobel had been training in an attempt to run the 26 mile marathon in under four hours, a prodigious athletic feat.
The crash broke both of Zobel’s legs, fractured a bone in his back, separated a shoulder and left him with severe facial injuries. The driver, Soldani, fled, but was apprehended with pieces of Zobel’s hair and skin embedded in the windshield of the car.
In January 2000, Soldani was convicted of second-degree assault and other charges and sentenced to 8 years and four months in prison.
Now, I understand that the man served his sentence and we should not judge him based on his past transgressions, but between this, the guy that registered as a sex offender, and the 24 year old married to the over 50 guy profiled in the Willamette Week, the Occupy folks have PR problem because whatever message they want to send and whoever they want to send it to (and I’m not real clear on either of those), just gets overshadowed by this sort of silliness.
The city likely won’t do anything until the sexual assaults start becoming more frequent.
Occupy is a world-wide movement. Here’s a huge shocker: in the entirety of humanity, there are some shitty people, some bad parents, and some crazy confrontational types. In a poor people’s movement you can not expect the crowd to look like an episode of Mad Men, or to behave like the supposedly-law-abiding aristocrats they are protesting. Poor people often have domestic issues (such as poor parenting and abuse / assault) and psychological problems (addiction and otherwise). I for one am proud that, unlike the rest of society, the Occupy movement is giving these people refuge. We feed hundreds if not thousands daily, and we provide much-needed socialization and respect to a segment of society long overlooked. SOLIDARITY. – @ShawnFleek
What do you mean “this sort of silliness” Babygorilla? Are you saying that if Mr. Soldani were hanging out at your local coffee shop that it would have a PR problem? Or what if he were located at a city park other than the ones appropriated for Occupy Portland? Would that have precipitated your Google search? Your thinking seems to suggest that Mr. Soldani’s very existence is a product of Occupy Portland. If not that, then you suggest that having attracted Mr. Soldani’s presence is somehow blameworthy, in the same way a victim might be blamed for a crime perpetrated against said victim. Speaking of victims: parading the sad story of Buffalo Zobel in some distorted effort to connect it with a slam against Occupy Portland? Very classy indeed.
If you put 2000 Republicans in a room you’d find equally as many drug addicts and sex offenders if not more than what’s being chronicled at occupy Portland.