A Mercury staffer looked out their window in SE Portland last night, to see a homeless-looking man passed out drunk in the front yard. They called CHIERS, and were told to “ask him to move along.”
When asked why CHIERS wouldn’t come out to take care of the guy, the Mercury staffer says they were told “we can’t come onto your private property.”
At this point, the man stood up, shakily, and walked off down the street.
“Well, I guess it’s taken care of,” said the CHIERS dispatcher, reportedly.
End of conversation.
So that’s where I was last night. Luckily there were no cats involved. No need really.
Similar thing happened when I was over at a friends on Taylor about six weeks ago (when there was still snow everywhere). I went out and asked if the guy was okay, and if he could at least move out of the path of the front doorway; he was pretty nonresponsive. Not having the number for anything else handy (long story), we called the police station to get some sort of help number, and they “took care of it” by sending a fire truck and an ambulance… whoo. Overkill, but on the bright side, I guess they can go on to private property. Meow.
CHIERS usually responds to calls about drunks to 911. You can read a little more about the service, here:
http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/in_the…
On the overkill front, it’s unusual for the cops to send a crew of fire paramedics unless the person really is nonresponsive, or having a heart attack:
http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/in-the…
Next time, it’s calling information for CHIERS, it looks like. I’m guessing they sent the fire crew because this was 39th & Taylor and the station is only about three blocks down.
I drink your lack of confrontation skills. I drink them up!
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