Tell me if I'm remembering this one wrong, but it seems like you're deliberately obfuscating"Otis pulled a gun out of his glove box and shot at officers" with a general "eruption of gunfire."

You forgot to mention Keaton Otis had an unregistered gun in the car, which was fired, presumably by Otis. That's more germane to the story than his mental health.

YEAH, WHAT THOSE GUYS SAID ABOUT OTIS AND GUNFIRE, ETC. I'M GOING TO ASSUME THAT SINCE NO ONE HAS ACTUALLY DECLARED THAT THERE WAS FRIENDLY FIRE, THAT KEATON OTIS DID IN FACT FIRE ON THE POLICE.

MAYBE THE CONTEXT OF THE ORIGINAL POLICE STOP IS A BIT LACKLUSTER, BUT THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP IS NOT TO SHOOT AT THE POLICE.

I'm just asking, but how do we know the unregistered gun wasn't planted there by officer Foote to cover a colossal fuckup that could otherwise have ruined their careers, lives, etc. A fuckup that started with Foote pulling Otis over, saying he "kind of looks like he could be a gangster." The kind of fuckup that there's an extremely widespread pattern of in this city... And it's not totally unheard of for cops to plant a junk gun to cover unlawful use of deadly force.

@GEYSER: YOU'RE ASKING THE POLICE TO PROVE A NEGATIVE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfair_burden). A BETTER QUESTION WOULD BE IF THERE WAS ANY EVIDENTIARY PROOF THAT OTIS POSSESSED THE GUN BEFORE THE INCIDENT.

lex parsimoniae, geyser.

If this were a one-on-one standoff, I wouldnt write off a planted gun, but this was a standoff with numerous officers in broad day light in a well populated and travelled area. Cover ups tend to get more difficult as the numbers increase. Besides, cops in this town don't get punished for shooting the unarmed anyway. Why bother with a cover up?

@7: Why bother with a cover up? One could just as easily ask why they would bother blaming the mental health system and "the community" for failing Otis just to cover up pulling over someone for Driving While Black and ending up punching him in the face and letting the violence escalate. The cops get off lightly, but they still try to cover some of their misdeeds.
But yeah, it probably was NOT a planted gun... this time. If it had been, officer Burley would likely not have gotten shot in the groin. The whole thing still stinks pretty bad, though, so it's worth at least raising some questions.

@8: No, of course I'm not trying to tell you that.

I don't know. As far as cop shootings in Portland go, this is about the most legitimate, if you can say such a thing.

Denis, why isn't Otis carrying a gun and shooting at cops mentioned in your story?
Why do I have to learn about this aspect from the bloggers here?
Are they correct then?
Do you have an axe to grind against cops in general?