BLOGTOWN

Greg Phillip Porter Multnomah County

Portland police have identified the suspect in this morning's hit-and-run near Portland State University as 61-year-old Greg Phillip Porter.

Porter was booked into the Multnomah County Jail this afternoon after he drove onto the sidewalk near SW 6th and SW Montgomery and seriously injured three women—before driving off. He's been charged with three counts each (so, 12 total) of attempted murder, assault in the first degree, reckless driving, and failure to perform the duties of a driver injury.

According to the Portland Police Bureau, a motive has yet to be determined.

John Elifritz inside the Cityteam shelter, shortly before being fatally shot by police. Still from video caught on the shelter's surveillance camera. Portland Police Bureau

Newly released evidence from the Portland Police Bureau has shed more light on the fatal police shooting of John Elifritz the evening of April 7.

This evening, PPB released nearly 700 pages of investigative material related to the Elifritz shooting—including interviews with witnesses, interviews with officers at the scene, autopsy notes, and evidence descriptions—including a photo of the bloody knife Elifritz used on his own neck.

A quick refresher on what the public already knew before this evening's data dump: On a rainy Saturday evening, Elifritz, 48, was shot at the Cityteam Ministries homeless shelter by a number of Portland police officers and one Multnomah County deputy. He had entered the SE Grand Ave. shelter shortly after crashing a stolen car on SE Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., interrupting an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting being held inside.

Elifritz first entered the shelter around 7:30 pm, shirtless. A staff member offered him a jacket and he left. At around 7:55 pm, Elifritz returned, appearing suicidal. By 8 pm, Elifritz had been fatally shot by police officers inside the shelter.

A month after this shooting, a Multnomah County grand jury ruled that all law enforcement officials involved in the shooting—one county deputy and seven Portland police officers—were justified in their deadly use of force. The transcript of that grand jury has yet to be made public. This Wednesday, Elifritz's ex-wife filed a civil rights federal lawsuit against the PPB for his death.

Until this evening, the public has only seen clips from one shaky cellphone video that captured the chaos and heard varied witness testimony of the incident, leaving dozens of unanswered questions. Videos released through public records requests today, captured by Cityteam Ministries' surveillance cameras and police car dashcams, help fill in some of the missing gaps.

Joey Gibson Leading a Patriot Prayer Rally in 2017 Doug Brown

Patriot Prayer, that far-right Vancouver, WA group that often attracts white supremacists, is holding another of its infamously awful rallies at Terry Schrunk Plaza on June 3 at 5 pm. It's almost exactly a year after Patriot Prayer held a "Trump Free Speech Rally" at the same location. According to the event's Facebook page, this year's protest will be their version of a goodbye party for a Patriot Prayer member named Tusitala Toese, or "Tiny." He's moving to American Samoa.

Toese was detained earlier this week for carrying a firearm on the University of Washington campus. He also was arrested twice at different Portland protests in 2017, on charges of disorderly conduct, harassment, assault.

Amtrak

Aaron Salazar, a Portland State University student who was traveling back from Colorado to Portland, was found brutally beaten in an Amtrak station on May 15. The family suspect the attack was a hate crime, while Amtrak says it may have been a suicide attempt. Salazar sustained damage to his brain stem during the attack and has been in a coma since the incident.

Now several Oregon members of Congress have penned open letter to Richard Andersen, the CEO of Amtrak, expressing dismay about the attack and calling for an in-depth investigation. Signed by Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader, Suzanne Bonamici and Peter DeFazio, as well as Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, the letter says "this incident have have been a hate crime against [Salazar]."

Kelly Kenoyer

Update 12:51 pm

A male suspect appears to be in custody. According to Portland police, officers apprehended the suspect in a blue Mazda Tribute near NE 16 Ave. and Glisan St.

Bartley Tuthill caught the arrest on camera:

Update 11:53 am :

PSU has put out a statement on this morning's hit-and-run:

On Friday morning, a vehicle struck pedestrians walking on the sidewalk near SW 6th Ave. and SW Montgomery St. on the PSU campus. Three pedestrians who were injured are hospitalized with serious injuries. The names of the victims have not been released. Portland police are investigating the incident. PSU's campus remains open, except for areas closed by police for the investigation.

PSU's Dean of Student Life's office and Center for Student Health and Counseling will provide assistance and support to any members of the PSU community who may have been impacted by this incident.

ORIGINAL POST:

The driver of a blue SUV or sedan reportedly drove onto a sidewalk near SW 6th and SW Montgomery St around 10 am, hitting at least three women before driving off.

According to witnesses in the area, it appears that the driver "intentionally" ran over the victims, but Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Chris Burley has said he cannot confirm this. At a 11:15 press conference, Burley said officers have yet to track down the car and/or the subject. The three women have been sent to the hospital, and two of them have "serious, life-threatening injuries."

Witness Christopher Bond says he says driver was going about 35-40 mph when they hit the victims, and that the vehicle is bluish-purple with tinted windows. He didn't catch a glimpse of the driver.

Witness Christopher says three women were injured and one had a tire mark on her back. The driver tried to hit him too. pic.twitter.com/6WoIcNyBcX
— Kelly Kenoyer (@KenoyerKelly) May 25, 2018

The scene is closed off here. pic.twitter.com/0quo2Uu7er
— Kelly Kenoyer (@KenoyerKelly) May 25, 2018

I’m talking to a few PSU students and they say they’re scared. “I don’t know how a person could do this.”
— Kelly Kenoyer (@KenoyerKelly) May 25, 2018

A police officer tells me several people were injured. The driver drove up on this sidewalk, where several tables and chairs were set up by the Starbucks. “It’s hard to believe it wasn’t intentional,” he says. pic.twitter.com/IVDEOhfySP
— Kelly Kenoyer (@KenoyerKelly) May 25, 2018

"Two of the women have serious, life-threatening injuries," Burley says.
— Alex Zielinski (@alex_zee) May 25, 2018

We'll update this blog as more information comes out.

Ross Grami

A day after Volunteers of America (VOA) Oregon employees—joined by other local labor rights organizations—held a union protest outside of the nonprofit's administrative building, staff found an email from VOA Oregon CEO Kay Toran in their work inbox.

"In my 19 years as President/CEO of VOA Oregon and my entire professional career, I have never witnessed such disrespectful and unprofessional conduct," wrote Toran. "It is extremely disappointing to know that the union... would view this activity as productive and positive means to achieve their objectives."

Toran's referring to the members of Oregon AFSCME, AFL-CIO, and Portland's Jobs with Justice who participated in a brief sit-in inside the administration building during the May 14 protest—which led to their arrest. AFSCME has represented the VOA union in its inaugural contract negotiations—negotiations that began after 85 percent of VOA employees voted to unionize in 2016.

This union specifically represents workers at VOA's Portland residential treatment centers for individuals on probation or parole. With demands for better wages (and, at the least, a clear pay scale), employees say Toran has refused to budge on any substantive contract demands, forcing them to organize rallies and protests.

According to Ross Grami, a AFSCME spokesperson, members of AFSCME (including the Executive Director Stacy Chamberlain) volunteered to be arrested on May 14 in place of actual VOA workers.