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Portland police killed a homeless man.Now the city is facing difficult questions
The murder of Robert Douglas Delgado last week came after months of protests against police violence in the city. The murder of Robert Delgado raises new questions about the relationship between law enforcement agencies and the city’s homeless population. Photo: Nathan Howard / Getty Images police in Portland released a recording this Friday between police officers and dispatchers just before and after a homeless man was shot dead in a city park. The recording includes the first report that a man, later identified as 46-year-old Robert Douglas Delgado, was wielding a pistol at Lents Park, deep in the southeastern quadrant of Oregon City. It records Delgado’s irregular behavior, suggesting a mental health crisis that was later reported to involve him. It also highlights the commentary by Zachary Delong, a longtime officer and combat veteran who killed Delgado in one shot. However, police say there are no signs that Delgado was wielding his gun when Delong fired at him from a distance of 90 feet. This turned out to be a harmless replica. A video of the incident, recorded by locals and first published by Willamette Week, captures police bark orders in Delgado before firing multiple shots, but does not clarify the problem very much. Portland riot police respond to protests after police shoot Robert Douglas Delgado. Photo: Nathan Howard / Getty Images According to public records, Delgado had a long series of interactions with police until 1992 and was convicted of crimes, including assault. Driving crime, and possession of drugs. He hasn’t recorded a permanent address since 2017. Sister Paulette Martin told a local reporter that her brother had been “always scared” of the police after years of “rough life” suffering from mental illness and substance abuse problems. It was. The person she said “I have never helped him”. Meanwhile, Delong was repeatedly celebrated by the Portland Police Department (PPB). In 2016, the agency posted a link to a history channel documentary detailing the role of officers during their 2010 engagement with the Taliban in Afghanistan as a US Army ranger. Last year, PPB awarded the Delong a Life Saving medal. It is described in the Bureau’s directive as “awarded to sworn or non-swearing staff or community members who have saved the lives of others.” Photo collage Delong has been on leave and is being photographed under internal administrative investigation. Asked about the shooting administration timeline, the PPB directed the Guardian to a press release that did not specify a timetable. A year-long protest against Friday’s killings raised new questions about the relationship between law enforcement agencies and the homeless population of cities, whose numbers increased during the pandemic and whose presence became more prominent. After a short pause in the spring of Covid 2020, city officials resumed the use of PPB to clear the camp. This is historically gentrification of black neighborhoods, spikes in housing costs, and a lack of affordable housing. So far, on the streets of the city, Delgado’s reaction to death is strangely subdued when compared to the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Portland has been upset over the past year by hundreds of nighttime protests against police atrocities, according to protesters, human rights groups and legal complaints, and has been subject to stricter police from local and federal agencies. It has become. At its peak, last summer’s protests drew thousands into the streets, with weeks of direct confrontation between protesters on the one hand and PPB officers, deputy Multnomah County Sheriffs, and various federal agencies on the other. Caused. The biggest protests were peaceful, but over the fence built to contain courts and prisons for weeks and protect the Multnomah County Justice Center, which was burned by protesters early in George’s cycle. , A large crowd of police and demonstrators confronted each other. Floyd protest. Protesters march along the Hawthorne Bridge after a police shooting by Robert Delgado. Photo: Nathan Howard / Getty Images As the years went by and protests continued, Portland became the central focus of conservative media, social media advertisers tweeting mugshots, and ultimately the Trump administration. The former president himself called the city. Authorities sent additional agents to the city because of opposition from the Governor of Oregon in an attempt to shift national conversation from dealing with his Covid crisis to “law and order.” Anti-police protests have been seen every night since the killings, but they were much smaller. After Derek Chauvin’s ruling on Tuesday night, expectations from Portland city officials were that Mayor Ted Wheeler would preemptively declare a state of emergency, impose a curfew, and cause anxiety. Was to be able to close the street. Downtown protesters broke storefront windows, one demonstrator beat a police officer and was beaten by police, but the crowd was only 60. The relatively small numbers are consistent with other recent protests and long-term trends in 2021. On Sunday night, a group of about 70 people gathered outside the eastern district of the PPB, where Delong was stationed before being put on administrative leave. According to police, the crowd tried to roll towards the precincts to set the dumplings on fire, but police intervened and the crowd disbanded without being arrested. Dozens of people, including so-called “black block” outfits (black outfits and masks associated with armed anarchist protesters), gathered in a park in the historically African-American Woodlawn district on Monday night. .. They marched on the surrounding streets and broke the windows of youth clubs, banks, and restaurants belonging to the chicken chain Popeyes. That night, city residents were ready to express their dissatisfaction with their actions. Lady Leo, an African-American woman living near a restaurant, told local public radio reporter Sergio Ormos that protesters “destroyed our community and taught children wrong. I’m doing it. ” Protesters set fire to portable toilets in downtown Portland on April 16, 2021. Photo: Dave Killen / The event has deteriorated in the relationship between protesters and the press, along with evidence of the sour view of protesters within the AP community. Justin Yau, a freelance journalist who had been on the streets for months to report protests on Friday night, was knocked down to the ground, beaten, and his glasses broken. The case said April Arich, president of the Oregon Association of Professional Journalists, “escalated anti-report rhetoric from protesters and physical attacks on Oregon journalists by both police and protesters.” It happened a few months later. Over the last 50 years, during the warmer months of Portland, there has been a surge in confrontational protests by the left against far-right groups and police. At a press conference on Friday afternoon, members of the Delgado family called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the situation of his death. At the same time, Portland Mayor Wheeler announced that he would extend the state of emergency until this weekend, urging residents to report the license plates of vehicles carrying people in black. It remains to be seen whether the reaction to Robert Delgado’s murder marks the end of the city’s controversial street politics during the Trump era, or a suspension of spring.