Reports and 911 calls in teen’s Tasering answer questions—raise more.
Denis C. Theriault
Denis C. Theriault is the Portland Mercury's News Editor. He writes stories about City Hall and the Portland Police Bureau, focusing on issues like homelessness, police oversight, insider politics, and civil liberties. Before arriving in Portland, Denis wrote and edited for the San Jose Mercury News, covering the California Legislature and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as the city of San Jose—a real-live million-person town.
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Police Taser Teen After Scuffle—Promptly Share Reports, 911 Calls, Videos
Portland police officers answering several vandalism and disturbance calls involving a group of kids in downtown St. Johns early Sunday wound up scuffling with—and Tasering—someone they thought was in that group: a 16-year-old African American football player at Roosevelt High School. Other than the age of the boy who was Tasered, what happened was not […]
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Police Union President Ripped Kruger, Command Staff in Retaliation Probe
We got a taste, thanks to the Mercury‘s copy of an Independent Police Review investigative report, of what Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner thought about a retaliation complaint one of his members brought against the controversial Captain Mark Kruger last year. Turner, according to the report, called the claim “totally 100 percent” valid—a blunt […]
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American bombs will rain down upon the Islamic State in two countries now, President Obama announced last night—committing the United States to yet another war, in Syria and Iraq, while calling for an international coalition to back him up. Does he need Congress’ approval? In short, no. What about the Syria’s? In short, maybe—lest they […]
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The City Has Officially Announced the Finalists Vying to Serve as Police Reform Monitor
illustration by drew bardana As the Mercury was first to report last Friday (rehashed again in today’s paper), the city’s hunt for a court-mandated independent police reform monitor has come down to three finalists—all of whom must win the approval of a specially constituted selection panel this month, lest the entire hiring process be reopened […]
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Hall Monitor
The Art of Political Promises
Mayor Charlie Hales promises to soothe arts community’s sore feelings over the arts tax.
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Let the Right One In
Who Should Oversee Portland’s Police Reforms?
Meet the three finalists hoping to oversee Portland’s police reforms.
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Doctor Monica Wehby, staring upward at Senator Jeff Merkley in the polls, isn’t quite the darling of the arch-conservative Koch Brothers she used to be—now that their vaunted ad buy for Wehby’s been reduced so their money can head to other states. Instead? After pivoting to the right, she’s pointedly spinning herself back to the […]
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Meet the Three Remaining Candidates for the City’s New Police Reform Monitor Post
Only two of three candidates still vying for the job of making sure the Portland Police Bureau complies with a court-approved package of reforms—aimed at reducing officers’ use of force against people with mental illness—have notably deep expertise with mental health policy or training, the Mercury has learned after obtaining and reviewing copies of their […]
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An appellate court in the Midwest has issued a blunt and gorgeous takedown of Wisconsin’s and Indiana’s bans on same-sex marriage, on the same day that 30 of these 50 United State, for and against equality, asked the US Supreme Court to quickly settle the issue (hopefully the right way) once and for all: “If […]
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GODDAMMIT LOUISIANA! Twenty-one times since the federal Defense of Marriage Act was all but cast down in 2013 as unconstitutional, judges have ruled favorably against various states’ same-sex-marriage bans. Until, that is, now. An 80-year-old judge in Louisiana has decided it’s okay to continue discriminating against loving couples, citing several abhorrent reasons—among them the notion […]