The Portland Police Bureau has released the names of the nine adults who were arrested last night after riot cops kettled dozens of Ferguson protesters who’d standing on streets and sidewalks while watching a “die-in” in the intersection of SW 2nd and Main. (An unidentified minor also was arrested, police announced.)
Seven adults were booked into the Multnomah County Jail, two adults were issued citations to appear in court, and one 17-year-old male juvenile was released to his mother and will be referred to the Juvenile Court on charges of Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree (Dis. Con II) and Interfering with a Peace Officer (IPO).
Booked into jail were:
29-year-old Veronica Thompson – Dis. Con. II & IPO
18-year-old Maria Fernanda Diaz-Bonilla – Dis. Con. II & IPO
68-year-old Thomas Burton Miller – Dis. Con. II & IPO
34-year-old Hart Ryan Noecker – Dis. Con. II
42-year-old Crystal Leigh Elinski – Dis. Con. II & IPO
34-year-old Carlos Alberto Blanco – Dis. Con. II
28-year-old Akshav Patel – Dis. Con. II
Cited into court were:
44-year-old David Kif Davis – Dis. Con. II
49-year-old Robert Lee West – Dis. Con. II
It’s unclear why these protesters were arrested at the same time as others were released, in small drips and drabs, from a police cordon. I’ve asked the bureau for comment on that question. Some protesters were arrested as the cordon tightened up, I observed. Others, according to pictures and accounts posted on social media, were arrested at the end of things.
It’s also not clear why two of the adult protesters were given less-serious citations while the rest were booked into jail, in some cases on the same charge, disorderly conduct in the second degree, before being released.
One of those arrested, Hart Noecker, is the blogger and activist (and Blue Oregon contributor) who wrote a widely shared post criticizing the three officers who, last weekend, posted profile photos on Facebook showing an “I Am Darren Wilson” bracelet wrapped around a Portland police badge. Noecker also posted about Tuesday’s protest, in which protesters shut down two bridges and briefly got onto freeway ramps in Southeast.
Noecker says he was booked by one of the cops who posted the Darren Wilson profile picture, Rich Storm. Storm, along with Rob Blanck and Kris Barber, are facing internal investigations for using their official badges to express political views. Mayor Charlie Hales, in an email, promised the Reverend Chuck Currie, an outspoken police accountability advocate, that he would pull those three officers from protest duty.
.@MayorPDX: Pt. 1 It’s reported Rich Storm was booking officer involved w/ Sat PDX #Ferguson protest. You promised he was removed from duty.
— Rev. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) November 30, 2014
I’ve asked Hales’ office how work processing arrested protesters—at a time when arrestees are out of sight and potentially at their most fearful about how they’ll be treated—fits with that promise.
The number one reason why those 3 officers should have been removed from protest duty is that there would be an obvious appearance that they were retailiating against protesters. That is clearly what seems to have happened here, regardless of if he singled out Noecker or not, it sure looks that way.
Time for a RICO investigation
Looks like 10 people who couldn’t hold a job at a coffee shop.
Meanwhile, the same kind of protests were happening in Nashville, Tennessee of all places and instead of being RoboCop hardasses the cops handed out hot cocoa and water bottles.
Great job, Portland PD for being more totalitarian and violent than the Nashville PD. That takes some effort!
This doesn’t come with any substantive meaning, but just for the record — Hart Noecker is not a BlueOregon contributor. He’s submitted a few guest columns that have been published; something that anyone is welcome to do.
@KariChisolm – So…would you say that he ‘contributed’ a few guest columns?