Comments

1

Let's wait until the full picture and investigation unfolds before jumping to the same knee-jerk conclusions. If you are talking about failures here that led up to this, you should do a story on why his family, who appear to be wealthy real estate developers who split time between here and Mexico (https://www.opb.org/news/article/koben-henricksen-portland-police-shooting-victim-mental-health/), didn't do more to help him. He had talked about and previously attempted to commit suicide by cop, so it's entirely possible that he was being aggressive enough to carry that out this go around. Again, let's wait until all the facts are out before jumping right to soliciting quotes from the usual Portland suspects / organizations whos' opinions on anything related to this subject are already pre-formed and known.

2

So, why wouldn't the proposed Street Response have been called for this? Just because the guy had knives? From the comments of regional leaders it seems like it's pretty easy to safely deescalate an armed person in mental health crisis.

3

Bottom line is that our mental health system in Oregon is badly broken. How does a guy with schizophrenia who tried to die via suicide by cop get released back onto the streets after a couple of weeks? That's not the fault of the city or the police.
People can wait for DAYS in the emergency room just waiting for an inpatient psych bed. Our state hospital is refusing to accept new patients due to overcrowding. And it's almost impossible to get people court committed. There are dozens of guys just like this released from the hospital every week. It's just a matter of time until the next tragedy...


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