News Mar 4, 2010 at 4:00 am

DA Prosecutes 13-Year-Old Girl over Beanbag Shooting

Comments

1
It is a great thing to expose a cop when he or she lies, Matt. Good job.
2
[COMMENT DELETED: SPAM.]
3
So if this little girl gets a years probation & 24 hours community service for attempting to defend herself, what does Chris Humphreys get for shooting an un-armed 12 year old girl with a beanbag round? Oh yeah, a resended suspention.

What does Humphreys get for CRUSHING A MENTALLY ILL MAN TO DEATH? Continued employment without so-much as a break in his pay cheque. Wonderful!
4
What has our world come to if a cop can get away almost entirely with assaulting a little girl? No matter what she did, there was no excuse for this act of police brutality. Humphreys is a horrible excuse for a human being.
5
Yes, this exactly what our world has come to, in Multnomah County and the Portland metro area.

Yes, the prosecution may have gotten a Multnomah County Judge to rule that the officers assault of a 12 year old girl was within the law, and to sacrifice the 12 year old's rights unconsciously/consciously for "the good of the cause", with everyone involved convincing themselves that probation would be a good lesson for her, because of her REPORTED past behavior, but the decision to charge the girl for assaulting a police officer in this situation was an injustice.

Deciding whose expendable, and whose not, regardless of whether rights were involved and wrongs occurred, IMHO in order to keep the status quo and to maintain Humphries appearance as being lawful, obviously critical to the City's pending litigation and unfortunately because government employed union represented misconduct is excused IF the unions want our local officials to excuse it. That IS the reality of it. I personally know how "the system" works.

Throwing a minor in front of a very well organized "legal bus", the same minor many who are outraged believe was blatantly and UNNECESSARILY assaulted by two grown men, to know the Judge obviously viewed all the evidence, listened to the expert testimony, knows all the backgrounds, and for her? to arrive at the decision she did, was incredibly disturbing. And I believe it will have broad-reaching ramifications.

IMO, the totality of the decision from the justice system, demonstrated publicly to this little girl, who clearly does not feel of any value, confirmation of that from "The Law of the Land"; that SHE does not matter, that HER RIGHTS to equal protection under the law DO NOT APPLY, and it confirmed things I am sure she has heard or read about offending officers not being held accountable for excessive force and/or even killing citizens unnecessarily.

But for this court to add insult to injury, by making that same 12 year old girl accept charges for the unnecessary assault the two police officers committed against her, IMO was reprehensible and that it sent a clear message to this 12 year old girl with obviously no effective support system; that grown men degrading and disrespecting her, a child, violating her rights and unnecessarily viciously assaulting her was okay, AND THAT SHE DESERVES THAT KIND OF TREATMENT FROM GROWN MEN, and the police, and that the local justice system approves of assaults on her, because the justice system doesn't believe she is worth protecting.

The officers acted appropriately in removing the girl from Max, and charging her with interfering with transit, but EVERYTHING beyond that, that went beyond an appropriate use of force; degrading the 12 year old girl and pulling her violently around the platform by her hair (had she pulled the officer's hair it certainly would have been deemed assault), and in response to her protecting herself from that officer's acts, to have allowed these two police officers to proceed to unleash the physical blows that they did against her without consequence, is beyond reason.

But the ending of this story was predictable, the rampant disregard for citizens rights by the local justice system, when incidents involve government employed union represented dysfunctionals has become incredibly obvious.

What was actually surprising, is the continued unadulterated arrogance of the officials involved, and our local justice system, when so much outrageous human capital is on the table (and has been repeatedly in the past) due to poor choices made by union represented deputized officers, tolerated by the local government, while under intense public scrutiny right now. And that in addition to one of these officer's receiving zero consequences for his participation in the death of an innocent mentally ill citizen, officers admitted presented no threat, our citizens now see the age of this same officer's victims of violence, dropping to as low as 12 years of age. That's pretty incredible isn't it?

Historically in the city of Portland I have got to ask, how many other girls 12 years or under, are on record as having been assaulted by two police officers, in the fashion that this one was?

My hope is that the latest, and littlest victim of our "local justice system", does not cast her pearls before swine, individuals who clearly should be in no position to pass judgment on her OR ANYONE ELSE, or allow them to define who she is, and who she has the opportunity of becoming.

She CAN change her stars.

It's quite obvious in this little girl's short life, that has never had an inpenetratable support system. I hope someone with discernment is able to step-in, intervene on her behalf, and assist her in developing one that will not betray her, and/or abandon her as she's evolving, and will commit to constantly reinforcing her value, until she actually begins to believe it herself and that they work with her to understand the importance of constantly working towards:

1) Learning to love herself and others, because she deserves the peace of mind and security it will offer her,
2) Developing an unshakable faith in herself,
3) Using every lesson she learns, so she can identify future Red Flags, in order to avoid harm,
4) Understanding that life will not be not fair to her at times, and that, aside from the outcome of this incredibly unfair incident, going forward if she stays on the right path, she should not consider that unfairness as being exclusive to her, and for her to understand everyone in some fashion, at one point or another encounter some form of unfairness in
their life. Some unfortunately, over and over again.
5) Surrounding herself with positive people. There's an old saying; "Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are."
7) Finding a mentor she aspires to be like, and working tirelessly from that point on, towards achieving her goals.
8) Living Winston Churchill's quote: "The pessimist sees the problems in every opportunity. Whereas the optimist sees the opportunity in every problem" "Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."
9) Knowing that men (and women) assaulting children, women and other men, unnecessarily IS NOT OKAY. And that although she made a poor decision to disregard the exclusion from Max that night, she did not deserve those two police officers assault on her.

And regardless of what she may have heard or read about the incident, there were an incredible number of citizens who were distressed she was harmed, who were hoping for a justice result for her, and continue to hope for one.

Thanks Matt! Great article.
6
Matt,

Could you try to do a follow-up story on Angela DeCourt? That story was really troubling and is the only one I've ever seen that actually exposed how things are done behind the thick veiled curtain of secrecy known as Multnomah County's local "justice system". IMO, it's a racket.

The MCDA stepping-up at trial with a drafted agreement offering to drop all (the obviously trumped-up) charges against the young local mother who alleged police degradation, retaliation and abuse in front of her 9 year old daughter, that came as a result of Angela simply asking officers about an incident she and her daughter were witnessing involving another citizen that concerned both the mother and the child.

The MCDA stepping-in and dropping everything: Theft of Public Service, Resisting Arrest, and Interfering with a Peace Officer, in exchange for Angela's agreement not to pursue legal action against: the County, and the officers. Quite frankly, I have a very hard time understanding how that particular activity is not considered corrupt. And what that local government office did, in order to keep things on the down-low was very telling. I mean what else have they participated in that our citizens are not aware of?

Who else have they made false allegations against?
Who have they manufactured reasons for prosecuting?
Who have they used government resources to retaliate against, at taxpayer expense, because he/she blew a whistle on some pretty incredible misconduct this city at times goes ahead and rewards, because of it's incestuous relationships with unions.

Consider that someone defending Dauchy's and Humphries acts against Yeager's expert testimony, that the violence that occurred was triggered by Dauchy's acts said: "Obviously an expert whose paid $200-$500 per hour is going to blame the officers."

Sure, the poster was correct only in that the defense found an expert who did not agree with the officers course of action. But the reverse side of that same coin is also critical for the public to be aware of:

The prosecutor presenting cases for prosecution and the Judges delivering rulings on alleged police misconduct in Multnomah County coincidentally all get their paychecks from the same place, and obviously fall under the same umbrella of employment. How's that for a big fat freaking conflict of interest?

Hence my continued interest in where Decourte is at, whether she is pursuing action for what occurred to her AND HER 9 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER, and whether or not anyone has been able to get the names of all of the officers on the scene the night the incident occurred on Max last August. Do we know if Dauchy or Humphries was present at the scene that night? Somewhere I read that there were 5 officers total from the PPB and the Multnomah County Sheriff's office present at the scene.

It would certainly be interesting to know.
Thanks!
7
Since we've got 6 comments that all agree with each other, I'll put in my two cents - this girl SHOULD have been found guilty! There was no police brutality here, at all - the cops did exactly what they were supposed to. Sure, she was 12 years old - but so what? She was also 5 foot 7 and 170 pounds, and she attacked a police officer who was arresting her because she "doesn't like to be touched." Well, I'm sorry, but that's what being "under arrest" MEANS, and you can't hit anyone because of your precious feelings. The beanbag only left a BRUISE - if they had tried to wrestle her down, I'm sure it would have been worse - she would have ended up with scrapes from the concrete, or maybe a broken arm. The beanbag was the absolute minimum force required to put down this criminal.
8
What a sad mess. Since this story, this 12 year old girl has been arrested again. This time for setting fire to her room. Flash forward 5 years when this same little girl is again arrested, this time for beating to death her 2 year old daughter. Reymont will blame this same "beanbag" girl. Matt Davis will blame the Portland Business Alliance, the same liberals and conservatives will spout off the same old arguments, and repeat... it would be boring if it wasn't so tragic.
9
@ Jason,Raymont

The way her childhood is going so far, her best chance is to become a police officer when she grows up. THAT way, she'd be abliged by LAW to be a violent thug. She'll get to have her very own beanbag gun & taser. Maybe she'll even get to have an AR-15 so she can blow innocent, un-armed Black men away, YAY!
10
I don't know what to say. Let's just continue to crucify our police and see what happens when they don't show up...
11
DamosA, Yeah the cops are violent thugs.... Now that I've engaged in some name-calling, I can only assume the problem is solved. Wow, That was a lot easier than serious dialog. Listen, a lot of opportunities were missed, before the purse snatching, the cop-punching, and the room-burning. Opportunities for real positive change. Of course that takes a lot more work than finger pointing. We can blame the cops, or blame the victims, or blame the perpetrators, but that's going to get us nowhere. We need to think systemically, about the way our city relates to our youth, our mentally ill, our underrepresented populations, and our institutions that have the most contact with these people.... You know, I think I'm just wasting my breath here.
12
Write a freakin' book already.
13
"I don't know what to say. Let's just continue to crucify our police and see what happens when they don't show up..."

Oh, the POOR cops! All THEY get to do is murder someone & get (at worst) desk duty.

Btw, perhaps off-topic a tad, but it strikes me a interesting that JOHN PATRICK BEDELL can try & shoot his way into the freakin' Pentagon, then engage in a gun fight with cops before being [fatally] wounded himself. BUT, atleast HE was taken to a hospital right away.
Where-as, Aaron Campbell was shoot by cops even-though HE was un-armed, attemping to surrender & HE was left to bleed to death for more than half an hour! I wonder if the D.C. police let Bedell's corpse stay in handcuffs for 2 days until an autopsy was done, like what was done to Campbell's corpse?
14
How many times did Judge Paula Kurshner excuse herself to go marry someone? Obviously her head was'nt into to this.
15
I have a feeling that the only reason this is going to trial is because the girl refused a plea offer that would have required her to admit fault so she couldn't sue later. The city used similar strongarm tactics against a friend of mine who was attacked by a couple of cops.
16
The message I have received from this fiasco is this:

Cops have the right the instigate a child into a fight JUST SO they can taser her and make up some outrageous claim they were looking for gang members(by the way when was the last time a cop actually captured a dangerous drug lord or badass criminal?)Then a stupid Judge who want to keep her unethical job will excuse these two corrupt cops.
Maybe someone should start tasering cops and judges and see how they like it? just tell everyone on tv that you were looking for drug lords or gang members around their homes or work places. I wonder how they would feel if this was their 12 year old child? I am not trying to be a smartass. I am just really sick of hearing how cops only seem to capture non-threatening children and mentally ill folks around the portland area and somehow violence accompanies these incidences, especially with humphrey's. He seems to be a real "mob mentallity" kink of loser who attracks dirty cops around him.
This judge is siding with cops and I would love to hear why, is there a legal reason? It seems like there must be because any moral reason is out the door once again!

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