Sarah Mirk contributed reporting
Update, 5:31pm
- SERGEANT REYNA: IMAGE COURTESY KATU
Police Bureau Spokeswoman Mary Wheat also issued this email statement: “I don’t have any comment on Sgt Reyna’s lawsuit however there is no evidence that indicates she did not call SERT because of any negative history with them. Sgt Reyna has utilized SERT in the past and has a very professional relationship with them.”
Original post:
More details have surfaced this afternoon over the discrimination allegations made by Sergeant Liani Reyna against the Portland Police Bureau’s SERT team over the course of the last decade. Reyna was the sergeant on scene in the Campbell shooting, and the Mercury broke the story yesterday that she may have avoided calling SERT to the scene because of her longstanding discrimination beef with SERT. The city admitted that SERT had engaged in “sexist and puerile” behavior, according to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling we tracked down yesterday.
Portland Copwatch wrote about Reyna’s complaint in issue 36 of its Peoples’ Police Report:
Rituals practiced by the SERT team included “strip club outings, simulated sex, masturbating, [pretending to be a] supervisor having a bowel movement, [and] a form of discipline in which SERT members would force an officer to the ground while another officer would sit naked on the officer’s face” (Oregonian, June 14).
We’re trying to find the Oregonian article online as I type, but the paper’s website archive is extraordinarily difficult to negotiate. [Update, 2:59—got it, after the jump]. Copwatch continues:
A jury of five women and three men inexplicably decided that these activities did not create a “hostile work environment” for Reyna. Perhaps it was the photos the other officers shared of her smiling, or the fact that she didn’t file the complaint until four months after the incidents occurred. Given that she was ultimately disciplined by then-Chief Kroeker (who disbanded the SERT team for a short 7 weeks while an investigation was done, and who flew back into Portland for the trial), it’s hardly surprising she was reluctant to come forward.
Apparently, the Bureau is no longer allowing the hazing practices.
Meanwhile, the Mercury has also gotten hold of the original complaint lodged by Reyna with the Bureau of Labor and Industries this afternoon. Details after the jump.
“I am a Portland Police officer,” begins Reyna’s complaint. “I was assigned to the Portland Police Special Emergency Reaction Team in February, 1999 and was the first, and only, woman assigned to the team. I was also the first, and only, gay female assigned to the team.”
“I was a member of the team from February, 1999 until my forced resignation from the team in November, 2000,” Reyna wrote. “During this period of time, I was subjected to a hostile workplace based upon sex and sexual orientation, discrimination based upon sex and sexual orientation, and retaliation for opposing unlawful employment practices in the workplace.”
Here are some of the allegations Reyna submitted to support her case:
•Reyna alleges that she went through the SERT selection process but that she was told in January 1999 that it wasn’t her “turn” for assignment to SERT, and that it was the turn of a male employee.
•”In January 1999, the results of an initial selection process were set aside and a second process established,” reads Reyna’s complaint. “Sgt.Rowley stated that the Chief’s office was just interested in putting a female on the SERT team and this was the way they were going to do it.”
•In February 1999, Reyna commenced training. “The SERT Team maintains a custom, policy and practice of “hazing” new SERT team members,” she wrote. “As a part of the hazing process, I was issued “rodent gear” consisting of a plastic army helmet, a seashell necklace and a wooden boot. I was instructed that I was responsible for making coffee, setting up targets on the firing range, cleaning up the range, picking up the brass and a variety of other menial tasks. I was informed that I was to wear my “rodent gear” in public restaurants, before training begins and after training ends. Officer Michael Stradley informed me that “better men than you have worn this gear.”
•The Sert team cheer went as follows, according to Reyna’s complaint: “Ra, SERT team! Where every man’s a tiger, a big fucking tiger, a big fucking tiger with a dick this big” (demonstrating with hands to show a large object). “To accommodate the fact that I am female,” Reyna wrote, “I was instructed that the SERT cheer would be changed as follows: “Ra, SERT team! Where everyone’s a tiger, a big fucking tiger, a big fucking tiger with balls this big!”
•”I was instructed concerning the SERT team’s practice of having a birthday idol,” wrote Reyna. “The SERT team member is instructed that the birthday idol must be displayed prominently in the home of the member on their birthday. The SERT team birthday idol is an opaque statue of two men performing oral sex.”
•During a week-long training session at Camp Riley, Reyna was required to participate in a series of sexually-oriented “skits”: “(1) a Hawaiian night where male members danced in “g-strings” wearing coconut bras; (2) a skit where I was required to imitate, using a Presto log passed through my legs, a male employee having a bowel movement; (3) a skit where two employees imitated, using a barricade penetrating projectile, a male employee having sex with his wife; (4) a skit where two members simulated sexual intercourse and simulated a male climax.”
•Reyna was pressured to drop out of the SERT team when a more senior member wanted to transfer to her precinct, she alleged.
•Reyna was told by a sergeant that “because you are a woman, the men can’t talk to you the way they do to each other. Some guys are afraid they will hurt your feelings and make you cry.”
•Reyna says she was isolated and treated differently by SERT team members when she began documenting her activities at training.
•More skits at another Camp Rilea training camp: “1) a skit where six male employees appeared wearing solely “thong” bikinis and their gun belts; 2)a skit where male “rodents” wore dresses, wigs and make-up and pretended to be women. During this skit Sgt.Tellinghusen made the statement, “I don’t want you fucking queens coming near me!”; 3)a skit where a “rodent” showed how he prepared for a date by taking off his clothes, pretending to take a shower, waiving his penis, pretending to shave his pubic area, and simulating masturbation. During this display SERT team members threw objects attempting to hit the “rodent’s” testicles; 4)a skit where two members simulated two employees performing oral sex; 5)a skit where team members pretended to be the music group, “The Village People” lip synching the song, YMCA; 6) a skit where SERT team members simulated two males performing sex. One of the members was completely nude during this skit. 7)a skit where the “rodents” wore g-strings and did a strip tease. Sgt.Mike Lee made the statement during this skit, “I see the overall theme is faggotry.”
•”On October 25, 2000, I became light-headed and dizzy as a result of an increase in my medication,” wrote Reyna. “SERT team members improperly gained access to confidential medical information, and circulated false rumors that I suffered from a seizure disorder. As a result of the false rumors, I was removed from street duty in November and placed on desk duty until March 2001.”
•”Management level employees of the Portland Police Bureau knew of the unlawful employment practices described in this complaint and failed to take prompt, corrective action reasonably calculated to end the hostile workplace,” wrote Reyna.
Having paid the $3 to access the Oregonian‘s archive, we have also found this letter to the Oregonian by a former close ally of Police Chief Rosie Sizer—retired Assistant Chief Lynnae Berg. Berg says that for the Oregonian to call the SERT team an “embarrassment to this community” is “inflammatory and inaccurate:”
- BERG LETTER: DEFENDS SERT TEAM’S REPUTATION
As mentioned yesterday, Chief Sizer herself has been quoted in this newspaper as saying that the bureau “deals well with gender.”
Update, 2:59pm: Text of the Oregonian article:
JURY CLEARS ELITE POLICE SQUAD
Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) – Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Author: NOELLE CROMBIE – The OregonianSummary: Siding with Portland in a civil suit, jurors decide officers’
sexually charged behavior did not create a hostile workplace
For two weeks, an eight-member jury listened to a catalog of
after-hours behavior by the Portland Police Bureau’s elite tactical
team.The five-woman, three-man panel heard about the team’s strip club
outings, nude hot-tubbing, pornography viewing, graphic discussions
and explicit skits in which team members simulated having sex and
masturbating. Every day, a statue that was passed among team members
was perched on the trial counsels’ table. The ivory-colored statue
depicts two men — one grabbing the other’s genitals.Monday, after about three hours of deliberation, the jury concluded
that those practices did not create a hostile work environment for
Officer Liani Reyna, the first female member of the bureau’s tactical
team, which she joined in 1999.Details of the officers’ conduct was inventoried as part of Reyna’s
civil trial in federal court against the city and the Police Bureau.
She accused the bureau of allowing the team’s sexually charged hazing
rituals to go unchecked for years, then retaliating against her when
she complained. She asked the jury to award her damages in excess of
$1 million.The trial included testimony from Reyna’s former colleagues on the
Special Emergency Reaction Team, including her partners and
supervisors, as well as an afternoon of testimony by former Police
Chief Mark Kroeker.Her former SERT colleagues and other officers painted a different
picture of the reaction of Reyna, 36, a patrol officer and 11-1/2-year
veteran of the Police Bureau. They said she was a willing participant
in the skits, including one in which she simulated a supervisor having
a bowel movement. They said she joined some of her SERT colleagues at
strip clubs after hours, sat in the front row and waved dollar bills
at dancers.On Monday, as he made his closing arguement to the jury, James Martin,
an attorney representing the city, stood before five large photographs
of a smiling Reyna with fellow SERT officers.“Do you think those were feigned smiles?” martin asked the jury. “Does
this look like unwelcome conduct?”One of Reyna’s fellow SERT officers, Todd Gradwahl, depicted her as a
gung-ho member who took notes while the team planned skits for their
annual training at Camp Rilea. He said she hosted the planning session
at her house and never expressed discomfort at the nature of the
skits.When the team discussed changing the SERT team cheer — which contains
profanity and references to male genitalia — because of Reyna’s
presence, Grawahl said Reyna participated in the discussions and made
a suggestion that ultimately was incorporated into the cheer. When a
seargeant asked Reyna if the new words to the cheer were acceptable to
her, “I remember her saying yes,” Gradwahl said.Gradwahl also said Reyna was among the officers who goaded him into
tucking is genitals between his legs, approaching a supervisor and
saying, “Look lieutenant, I’m a girl!”Reyna testified that she did not encourage Gradwahl to perform the
prank and she did not suggest new wording for the team cheer.Stephen Brischetto, Reyna’s lawyer, told the jury in his closin
garguemnt that his client was “a trailblazer” who broke the gender
barrier on the SERT team. He said the culture of the team alienated
and excluded Reyna, who workd hard to be a full-fledged member and as
a result took part in some activities she found offensive.He pointed out that the team has not had a woman as a member since
Reyna resigned in November 2000.Some of the practices Reyna cited as offensive included a form of
discipline in which SERT members would force an officer to the ground
while another oficer would sit naked on the officer’s face. At Camp
Rilea, Reyna described how officers would storm into the quarters of a
sleeping officer, roust him and simulate having sex with him.REyna’s initial complaint about objectionable practices four months
later led to the discipline of 20 officers, including Reyna. She
claimed that she was disciplined for disclosing the team’s mismanagent
— a claim rejected by the jury.After the jury delivered its verdict, Brischetto said Reyna realized
the trial would be a difficult one.“Nevertheless, one of the most important goals in this case was
achieved simply by taking the case to trial and letting the public
know about the sexual misconduct that occurred on the city of
Portland’s tactical team,” he said. “Regardless of the verdict, we
believe there is much work that needs to be done to integrate women
into the city’s tactical team.”The city says such sexually charged hazing practices are no longer allowed.
Brischetto said Reyna will review her options for appeal during the
next several weeks.
Update, 3:23pm Oregonian editorial from the following day:
OUR COMMUNITY’S VERDICT: DISGUST
Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) – Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Summary: The police officer who blew the whistle on an elite police
team didn’t win in court, but she won a moral victoryIt must have been a thrill in 1999, when Officer Liani Reyna was
tapped for the Portland Police Bureau’s Special Emergency Reaction
Team, known as SERT .Reyna was the first woman ever cleared to enter the equivalent of the
Portland Police Bureau’s inner sanctum — the first woman invited to
join the toughest of the tough guys.The Special Emergency Reaction Team is the Superman squad, after all.
These are the officers trained to deflect snipers, defuse hostage
situations and storm barricaded doors. What Reyna couldn’t have
guessed going in, though, is that her official duties wouldn’t be as
tough as her unofficial ones.She didn’t know she was joining a smut-saturated brotherhood with
rituals so degrading and sophomoric that they seemed dreamed up by
sadistic frat boys, not fellow officers.An eight-member jury just finished listening to two weeks of
testimony, detailing the team’s grotesque notion of R&R, its “bonding”
and hazing rituals, punishments and other fun and games. We do not
envy this jury. Hearing this case must have been about as uplifting as
being locked in a portable toilet for two weeks.Among other things, the jury had to decide whether the city created a
“hostile working environment” for Reyna. On Monday, the jury decided
the city had not. Reyna’s participation in some activities —
participation her former colleagues testified was enthusiastic — may
very well have helped to sway the jury.It’s never smart to second-guess a jury, of course, so we won’t try.
But there’s a common-sense explanation for Reyna’s show of enthusiasm
for things she found offensive: In the time-honored fashion of people
everywhere when they’re trying to fit in, Reyna faked it.“I felt really stupid,” she told the court in regard to a skit in
which she simulated a superior having a bowel movement. “I felt
immature. I felt this is what they do, and if I want to be on the SERT
team, I need to do it.”How sad. And how human. But Reyna made another mistake, as well. After
she quit the team, she didn’t immediately explain what an ordeal it
had been for her. It took her several months to blow the whistle. From
the jury’s standpoint, this, too, may have hurt Reyna’s case, but
those who have been “the first” of their sex or race to join a group
may understand Reyna’s reluctance.The important thing is that Reyna did find the courage to risk her
career. Thanks to her, the team today has supposedly cleaned up its
act. That’s likely a huge relief even to some of Reyna’s former
colleagues, those who learned to simulate enjoyment of team stunts,
too, but (unlike Reyna) never had the guts to quit or blow the
whistle.The jury’s finding is a big relief to the city, but it’s not much of a
victory for the Portland Police Bureau or the Special Emergency
Reaction Team.The verdict that really counts on this Superman squad is our
community’s verdict. And that jury will be out so long as Reyna is the
first, last — and only — woman to join the team.
Seriously, you folks (Mirk in particular, I suspect) need to stop whining about how hard it is for you to look things up on a computer.
Did you know that anyone with a library card can freely access (and easily search) the recent years of the Oregonian by using the Multnomah County Library’s link to Newsbank? Many grade school children have learned to use the magic and muysterious library to access info, but I will make it easy for you cause you may have missed that fifth grade field trip. Go to: http://www.multcolib.org/ref/a2z.html Look under O for Oregonian. (The letter O comes after the letter N)
I am surprised the O itself doesn’t doa quick search of its archives when an incident like the campbell shooting involves specific, named, officers. So good work on following up.
“did not create a hostile workplace”
If your usual workplace is a high school baseball team.
I don’t think they’re complaining about the difficulty of accessing things by the ‘net so much as how poorly a number of these websites are designed — a big flaw in sites that are supposed to be used by the very lowest common denominator of internet users (read: government websites).
@Number Six:
I suspect the fact that the O has laid off so many reporters may have knocked its institutional memory, somewhat. Nevertheless this is a real glaring oversight. Nobody remembered her name?
Ah, public humiilation is so powerful. Do you think anyone has footage of the “Hawaiian night where male members danced in g-strings wearing coconut bras”? And can someone please explain the link between man’s man team building exercises and over the top (so to speak) homoerotic behavior?
If you have to pay for the archive, is it ethical (or legal) to reproduce the complete articles/letters?
Consider your nit picked.
Excuse me? This is the “ELITE” police team? This would be EMBARRASSING if it were a group of High School Students much less our “elite” police force. How would anyone think that calling these bozos would help.
Portland Police, Chief Sizer… Pardon me- but GET it THE EFF TOGETHER… Chasse should have NEVER died for pissing on the street. Damn- why don’t you issue the police force “Bad Kitty” water guns; which probably WOULD have worked in this case.
I’m embarrassed not to mention; frightened any time I’m faced with a Portland Police officer. I once had one do an unlawful search & seizure in my OWN home when I was there alone. I was even charged with “disorderly conduct” in my own residence- and the police officer even LIED about it in court over a STUPID sound complaint from a mentally unstable neighbor who “looked” more “normal” than I did. It was TOTAL BULLSHIT… if my other neighbor hadn’t taken TIME OFF OF WORK to TESTIFY for me… I would have had a $1,200 dollar fine plus a record. What a dis-service to the city and myself- my neighbor your LAME, SHORT, Ass of a COP whose name I will not mention did. I was even too traumatized by the cop’s threats to go and pick up the equipment he confiscated. I wonder HOW many OTHER stories never even get the time of day… Especially when big one’s like this don’t get the attention or action they deserve.
If your officers are so eager to overlook a person’s rights on such a small level- I have to ask myself what they are willing to do when they’ve got bigger decisions to make.
PPD: you get a FAIL in my book. I feel more comfortable walking down the street lined with drug dealers and prostitutes than being bullied by the likes of you. At least I can deal with them without fearing for my life or being threatened & taken to jail. What ever happened to Officer Friendly, the normal “beat-walking” cop who was on YOUR side?? Instead of making me feel safe- I usually feel fear; what a sad state to have to feel living in Portland, Oregon.
SO LAME. This stinks.
Sincerely-
astrogirl
@CH: In this isolated instance I took a judgment call that reproducing the article was more in the public interest than any other concerns. Having said that…
If the O’s lawyers want us to pull it down, or link it somewhere else, we’ll gladly do it. My first instinct was simply to share the information in an accessible way. But I appreciate your raising the question. We do think about this stuff. Heat of the moment. Quickly unfolding situation. Yadda yadda.
These guys sounds really cool. How do I become a part of this outfit?
Seriously though, I am a man, and I can’t figure this out. I have been on many sports teams, in locker rooms, gyms, a fraternity, etc. At no time, in any of these male-dominated institutions have I seen anything like this stuff taken place. They go on a retreat together and dance around in thongs, simulate masturbation, and sing YMCA to each other? They sit naked on someone’s face?
What the fuck is wrong with these people?
Now that I’ve picked up the broken tea cup and the dog has stopped howling in fright from my exhortations …
Please disclose from somewhere in the public domain records which Matt C Davis and the MERC – but no other Portland media – have with due diligence exclusively already obtained:
1- the law firms and attorney names of all the parties in the Sergeant Liani Reyna state and 9th circuit cases against the Portland Police Bureau’s SERT team?
2- The case numbers of the state and appellate cases?
3- both case numbers please?
4- Final Judgments and orders of both cases?
Is the MERC planning to file MORE public records requests with PPB and City Law Dept to identify current an former woman officers subject to hostile environment and sex bias? (Or does Portland CopWatch know of other cases or women too intimidated to file who decide to quit instead of challenging the thin blue line of command and control?
The facts pled and disclosed so far are not a mere one-off anomaly – the incidents complained of are indicative of ‘pack’ behavior.
It defies credulity and case law to suppose that an entrenched culture of institutionalized misogyny and homophobia would result in only ONE actionable case of hostile environment gender discrimination.
Matt and Sara’s gum-shoe, concrete-pounding, deep throat sourced reporting is meritorious and deserves submission & consideration for national journalism awards.
These, and more, of the dirty little secrets of the PPB really are due ful exposure in a national news or TV magazine story (Democracy NOW, Mother Jones, Atlantic, National Journal, Vanity Fair, 20/20, 60 Minutes). as well as prolific dissemination by the digital truth warriors …
There can be no more compelling argument needed to justify the necessity for the Mayor of Portland to & immediately do his spin PR thang to commit to conducting a a full-on national search for chief to replace Sizer – as the Mayor of Seattle is currently doing, and by asking citizens for on-line answers to 4 threshold questions formulated by a diverse, 28 person commission that is holding public, video taped neighborhood hearings.
a TWISTED tale of two americana frontier towns ..
when I read stuff like this and think of the rumors often told that Rosie bed-hopped her way up the ranks to attain her position(s), I have to wonder if these rumors are more well-founded in fact than mere employee-grousing as she is totally ineffective “manager” to let such happenings to go on without bringing the hammer down on these idiot’s involved, or she just let’s it slip on by as to her “thinking” it’s OK…till caught and come to light, then it can be dealt with by getting before camera, smile goofy and say even goofier stuff. Gee! What a set of idiots? What next is to come to light about these dregs of society????
Good job Matt and Sarah! It’s all coming clear now…
The DDA did not want Reyna to testify at the Grand Jury proceedings because she may have been asked why she didn’t call the SERT team. She would have probably also been asked if she had had any reason or ‘experience’ not to feel confident that they would have handled the situation with competency. She would have had to either talk about her complaint, which would have made it look like she willfully failed to bring in the most qualified individuals to handle the situation because of her personal vendetta. This would mean she has some personal responsibility in the death of Aaron Campbell. Or secondly, she would have to lie, and subsequently, the Mercury would have likely found her complaint against the SERT and exposed her dishonesty, and she would be in serious trouble for lying under oath.
Perhaps, did the District Attorneys Office not call Reyna because they believed the transcript might eventually be released to the public, as it was at their request…
So here’s the million dollar questions:
Did DDA Don Rees know about Reyna’s past problem with the SERT and not call her as a witness because he believed that she would likely be asked why she hadn’t called for their assistance?
Did DDA Rees ask Reyna to lie under oath and not mention her problems with the SERT, and she refused, and subsequently was left off the witness list because of it?
If the answer is yes to either of these questions, the Grand Jury findings are tainted and should be ruled invalid.
People, this community needs a new Grand Jury to take a look at this case and determine if, any of these individuals involved, and the list is getting long, are culpable in the death of Aaron Campbell, or in attempting to cover up the investigation, including tampering with the Grand Jury process.
For about the 2nd time, I fully agree with Blabby. Hazing is one thing, but these reported events are just plain moronic.
The accusations by Reyna whether sufficient to support her claim or not, are alarming at least. The real problem here is that this crap makes the public (and your readers) think that the local police are just a bunch of imbecilic, juvenile, sexually obsessed, moronic, pea brained, F**K UPS! This behavior is the work of a small number of the privileged special police…and unfortunately condoned by the “leaders” that want to “work” their way to the top – and stay there!
The truth is that most officers (including those in PPB) do not put up or participate in the kind of crap Reyna describes. AND they pay for it by being left high and dry when they make a mistake due to lack of training, support, and leadership. Those on top will stay there and those on the bottom will be left to fend for themselves.
@ Whistle Blaster: You are spot on with your comments. The key is Reyna having to answer potentially troubling questions under oath. DDA Rees could have tried to steer the GJ’s line of questioning away from damaging testimony had Reyna appeared (like he did with some other witnesses according to the transcripts) but to not have called Reyna to the GJ at all is a glaring omission that begs the question, “why?” And since the GJ already found a no true bill, there is no going back. That component of all this is over.
I think there are two processes left where Reyna would still have to testify under oath – a civil suit brought by Campbell’s family or a federal civil rights case if the feds file one in District Court. I am not sure what an inquest might accomplish as the GJ has already spoken.
Another way to check out the possibility that Reyna did not call SERT in a timely manner in the Campbell case would be to research Reyna’s past SERT call outs and look for timeliness in those cases, the circumstances involved, etc. If a pattern develops that would be cause for concern.
Let me get this straight, the question in this case wasn’t, “did these [way below what even a fraternity would do] behaviors happen?” but “did those actions result in a hostile workplace?” Cause that is just messed up.
And good job Sarah&Matt, this stuff is very good.
@Ex-Human: The Grand Jury can look at the case again, there is no double jeopardy clause for Grand Juries. In practice it isn’t done unless something substantial changes, (like this, for instance,) but there is no reason the DA couldn’t bring a case again and again just because they felt like it. I doubt the DA would bring this one again, it would just make them look bad when it everyone knew that they’d been hiding something the first time around, but the DA can be replaced at the ballot box if people are pissed enough…
Second Grand Jury! This time with *all* the facts.
I’m going to make a quick call to the city tomorrow. If they can’t get it together, I’d bet this issue has become big enough that the DA will be handed his walking papers in our next election.
p.s. I’m an Army Vet who served in the Infantry. Which means all men. And I *never* wore a g-string to sit on another dude’s face while singing YMCA. What self-described hetero does that? (Oh….right. None.)
@Ex-Human: I agree with Matthew D., in that the community can demand a new GJ be convened. They do it to the organized crime bosses all the time.
Another idea is file a complaint with the BAR against Rees because of his failure to provide Reyna to the GJ as a witness under the theory that Rees had acted willfully and committed an ethics violation by not zealously representing the citizens of Portland. Surely, her testimony was germane to the entire chain of events and chain of command surrounding the death of an unarmed man. Perhaps public pressure and national attention would force the BAR to ‘do the right thing’, and sanction Rees.
Hence, in light of this, the cry for a ‘new’ GJ would be a reasonable request from the community. I’m sure the Justice Department would prefer that the State of Oregon resolve this matter internally.
And perhaps, a new Grand Jury would find that Reyna is truly the one responsible for the death of Aaron Campbell. the scene was chaotic, and it may have been due to a lack of respect Lewton and Frashour had toward Reyna that caused them to act as they did: 1. Ryan Lewton starts screaming commands at a emotionally-suffering, cooperating man who had walked out backwards and put his hands on his head; 2. Lewton shoots Campbell with beanbags; 3. Frashour has no ear phone to receive a command from the commanding officer, so he shoots too when Campbell moves-
Why would you ask for another grand jury from Schrunk’s office? You’re just giving him instructions on what he needs to pretend like he’s investigating the next time around. How many times do you have to complain about the grand jury process to realize they’ve decided their job is Portland-style “process,” not to get an indictment in these cases? What kind of “prosecution” invites defense expert witnesses during a grand jury, but not important real witnesses? You’re never, never, never going to get a different result from him. Then, Westerman and his overtime-hogging goons can puff around about how the obviously conflicted, pre-determined “process” “cleared” them again.
@NoKnees: You’re right…we need to abolish this corrupt, bias practice called the “Grand Jury system”-
The best way to avoid these kinds of workplace bullies is to see what their employees really think about them on sites like eBossWatch.com
Many of you trying to speculate that Reyna did not call SERT because she has a beef with them are wrong. It really disgust me that you are trying to pin this on Reyna. But alas, could it be (most certainly) that Reyna was no longer in charge of the incident. Don’t you recall that another Sgt. and Captain were on scene. They men who did not trust the decision of a woman. This is what it’s all about.
Stop this crap about trying to create a conspiracy about Reyna and her past with the SERT team. She made the call to walk away, remember. It was her male superiors that probably took over and created the chaos and mess for this unfortunate victim.