Portland Officers: Riots Have Cost Lives and Shown ‘The Most Horrific Displays of Hate”
Black Lives Matter protesters march through Portland, Ore. after rallying at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. Following an agreement between Democratic Gov. Kate Brown and the Trump administration to reduce federal officers in the city, nightly protests remained largely peaceful without major confrontations between demonstrators and officers. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
We’ve seen a lot of things as a part of the chaos the radical leftists have loosed on the country.
Perhaps nowhere has it been more in evidence than Portland, the epicenter of the radical crazy.
But while we may have watched it on video, there have been people who not only have been living it, but have been the target of it, day in and day out.
We reported previously about what Officer Jakhary Jackson reported about having to deal with the protests. He said that he had been hit by an explosive, a full beer can, rock to the chest, frozen water bottle. He also said that he was hit with some of the most offensive racist remarks he’d ever heard from the protester/rioters.
Now, the Portland Police are speaking out about the things that they have gone through with the radical BLM/Antifa mob.
The protester/rioters supposedly are concerned about racism and sexism? Yet the things they have said to officers have included incredibly vile and racist things.
Three officers spoke to the media on Thursday and explained some of their experiences dealing with all that has gone on the past 70 days.
Officer Rehanna Kerridge had been working with the Gun Violence Reduction Team. That had been done away with because of the ‘defund mania’ false claims that the team was racist because it was actually helpful at reducing gun crimes.
From KGWT:
She said sentiments against the GVRT, including that it was racist, were just not true.
“It was a sacrifice to work in that unit,” she said. Upon learning funding was cut: “insulting was the first word that comes to mind. I had to find out about that by watching a press conference.”
She said she had spent years in North Precinct as part of that team, building relationships with neighbors, businesses, victims and colleagues. Now she’s been reassigned to Central Precinct, “where people are actively trying to destroy and create division” night after night.
She said now, instead of dealing with stopping gun crime, she’s been delegated to dealing with the riots, showing the direct correlation on how the rioters are costing lives.
Portland had a higher number of homicides in July than they had during any other one-month period over the last 30 years. There’s also been a surge in assaults, burglaries, vandalism, and shootings.
As of July 30, 15 people were killed in Portland in July alone, according to The Oregonian. They’ve already had 24 killings for this year. There were 63 shootings so far this month compared to 28 in July 2019, according to the Police Bureau, more than double last year.
Sgt. Derrick Foxworth, who is black, agreed saying that he had not seen any racism from the Portland Police and that they can’t focus on other crime if they continuously have to deal with the rioters. He said they needed the community relationship engendered by the GVRT in order to successfully deal with gun crime.
But perhaps some of the most poignant remarks came from Sgt. Brent Maxey. He explained that in addition to all the resources having to be delegated to deal with the insanity, officers have been subjected to “some of the most horrific displays of hate” that he’s ever seen from the protester/rioters.
He referred to riot where thousands were assembled outside the Portland Police Association and then they targeted two female officers.
From KGW:
“The crowd keyed in on them, saying some of the most vile things to them, talking about sex assault, about being sex objects for other officers,” Maxey said. “There was one individual that said that he was going to take the baton from one of the female officers and sexually abuse her with it. It was something that is so vile, no one should be exposed to it.
“It does take some type of psychological toll to sit there and listen to this hate for no other reason than we’re police officers. I would say it’s down there in one of the lowest nights in my career. I think more of those people that are showing support, need to stand up and speak out against it. I really think that’s how we’re going to get through this.”
The very people claiming Republicans/Trump are evil or destroying America are themselves some of the least tolerant and most hateful people in the country.
But because of their Democratic leadership, police have been held back and cowed, unable to adequately respond, and you can tell by these remarks. The police can’t be scared of responding or the whole concept of the rule of law unhinges if they are. All these rioters need to be locked up and held, but they know they will not be, so it emboldens them to continue to attack.