May 27, 2003
More on Kendra James Fall-Out
A trio of items from today's Portland Tribune related to the aftermath of the Kendra James shooting.
First up, this rumor from Phil Stanford's column:
Scuttlebutt around the Justice Center is that Chief Kroeker wanted to fire police officer Scott McCollister the morning after the Kendra James shooting. He reportedly was talked out of it by legal types.
Then this item from the PDX Update section on police policies:
A local civil rights group has asked to review the Portland Police Bureau's cultural training policies in light of the Kendra James shooting. The Coalition Against Hate Crimes made the request after discussing the shooting at its Thursday meeting.
The shooting has enraged many members of Portland's black community. James, who is black, was shot and killed by police officer Scott McCollister, who is white, on May 5. McCollister shot James as he tried to arrest her; he has testified that he was leaning into the car when it began moving, and he feared for his life.
"This is not intended to be punitive, but (we) want to see if there's anything that can be done to prevent something like this from happening again," said coalition Chairman Randy Blazak, a sociology professor at Portland State University.
You can find out more about the Coalition Against Hate Crimes on their website, which also points to a KGW story about their meeting last Thursday.
Finally, there's a skimpy story on Saturday's march:
Robert Larry, president of the Portland NAACP chapter, called it the largest civil rights march he's seen in Portland.
Willie Brown of the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhood Associations called it a "rainbow of folks who care about justice."
More than 1,000 people of all races marched through the heart of Portland's black community Saturday afternoon to protest the police killing of 21-year-old Kendra James.
The article says that speakers "called the shooting unjustified," "agreed with the grand jury decision," and supported "legislation opening grand jury proceedings to the public." While it does mention the intention for a June 4 trip to Salem, it doesn't mention the other demand, which is to change the state's "use of force" laws.