Portland, OR Police Rapid Response Team Protests Indictment

| June 18, 2021

In an unprecedented move, all of the officers with the Portland Police Bureau’s Rapid Response Team — the unit responsible for policing protests in the city — resigned from the team en masse Wednesday.

The resignations came after news that a member of the team, Officer Corey Budworth, would face criminal charges for excessive force used during a protest last year. A second Rapid Response Team member, Det. Erik Kammerer, is under investigation by the Oregon Department of Justice on similar allegations.

Multnomah County, Portland Police Association Executive Director Daryl Turner told the Lars Larson Show that he feared officers would quit in response to what he called a “Witch Hunt” of a prosecution. In its own investigation the Portland Police Bureau found no wrongdoing by the officer.

He has been charged with one count of fourth degree assault, a misdemeanor, for physically injuring someone during an Aug. 18, 2020, protest. He was accused of hitting activist photographer Teri Jacobs from behind with a baton.

Budworth was assigned to the Portland Police Bureau’s Rapid Response Team at the time of the alleged assault.

The Portland Police Association, representing rank-and-file officers, said the charges were politically driven. In a display of solidarity, the entire Portland Police Rapid Response Team resigned.  The officers remain employed with the Portland Police Bureau, but will no longer work as part of the Rapid Response Team. Assignments to the team are on a voluntary basis within the police bureau.

OAM sends.

Entire Portland Police Rapid Response Team Resigns

Portland, Ore. — FM News 101 learned late Wednesday night that in response to the criminal indictment of Officer Corey Budworth, the bureaus entire Rapid Response Team resigned. Sources with the Police Bureau say the team voted unanimously to disband.

The Rapid Response Team is a group of volunteer officers who respond to civil disobedience, demonstrations, and riots.

Tuesday, a member of the team was charged with assault for actions during an August 18, 2020 riot in Southeast Portland.

Wednesday, Portland Police Association Executive Director, Daryl Turner told the Lars Larson Show that he feared officers would quit in response to what he called a “Witch Hunt” of a prosecution. In its own investigation the Portland Police Bureau determined no wrongdoing by the officer. He did not violate training or department rules. He did his job within the scope of the law.(Emphasis added)

@LarsLarsonShow
Rioters organizers included instructions to come with helmets and weapons. Officer Budworth used his baton to tap back rioters trying to interfere with arrests, accidently striking a woman in the head. Budworth was cleared of any violation of dept rules & training.
Lars Larson
@LarsLarsonShow
The charges come from a Social Justice Warrior DA who campaigned for office saying he would look for an opportunity to indict a cop. Schmit declined to prosecute 80% of the more than 1 thousand crimes charged against rioters over the last year+.
I’ll add to this when I get more

Somehow I think Portland is going to have problems finding replacements. Thanks, OAM.

KXL.com

Category: Crime, Guest Link, Police

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Poetrooper

I think it might be instructive to the nation if Antifa and Black Lives Matter proceed to gut the inner city area of Portland, turning it into a smoking ash heap and a no-man’s land for business or governing purposes. Perhaps some suburban violence and destruction might be in order as well.

Go ahead, BLM/Antifa, destroy it, set an example for the rest of the country by demonstrating just what your movements are about: arson, anarchy and destruction of everything representative of White civilization, a real, honest-to-God insurrection, unlike that phony, Democrat-abetted mess on January 6th.

And as for Portland–there’s not a more deserving city in the country for reaping the kind of whirlwind their foolish, Democrat-Socialist citizenry has sewn for years. Turn this city into the symbol of what Democrat-Socialism represents.

26Limabeans

Now the feeding frenzy can ensue as they devour each other
and the only thing left will be trash littered streets and
crows cleaning up bits of flesh.

Andy11M

Wonder what the trigger will be for most of the force to quit en mass will be. I know the last time the mayor of Portland asked neighboring cities/counties for police help, the told him to get bent,they were not going to open their officers/deputies to prosecution by the city. I doubt they would help even in that sort of a doomsday scenario of a mass walk off/blue flu.
Anyone know when the next city counsel/mayor election is in Portland? If even one of those people gets re-elected, the city deserves to burn.

Mason

I know the mayor was just re-elected last year. His opponent was an even further left (openly communist, not hyperbole either) lefty.

MustangCryppie

I seem to remember her wearing a skirt that had pics of Mao, Lenin, and Stalin on it.

SMDH.

MustangCryppie
Devtun

Ted Wheeler was reelected as mayor in 2020. His challenger was even more to the left. Basically the lesser of two turds..er, evils. The city commission runs Portland, and the mayor actually has few powers (though he is the de facto police commissioner). Yeah, no matter how shitty things get, Portlanders are gonna keep pulling the lever for the same.

Roh-Dog

GDed alien creatures of Portland had no problem with last year’s Summer of Love, Part 2: Patchouli Bugaloo.
Hopefully they don’t get buyers’ remorse with part 3.

Only Army Mom

Patchouli Bugaloo?

I thought there was a rule around here about spew alerts.

You owe me a cup of coffee. Wasting good coffee is a capital offense.

Roh-Dog

Your complaint has been logged with the Centralized Bureau of Justice, Rainbows and Unicorns Division. Please note, much like the Presidential Selection, there are no refunds, guarantees, or methods to achieve recompense.
The Borg appreciates the interaction with the automated Complaint System and we will be reading this as performative slam poetry at our mandated team building exercise on Friday.
Thank you for the laughs, Citizen.

ChipNASA

And I am also piling on OAM’s comment,
SPEW!!!

And you’ve just earned yourself a simple but effective slot on the The Hemisphere of Insults®™

This guy is an inbred offspring of the Summer of Love, Part 2: Patchouli Boogaloo,” (edited somewhat…)

11B-Mailclerk

Real Red Revolutionaries would absolutely exploit this event to amp-up The Revolution, thus more mayhem.

Red Dye #2 will accept orders from their masters to knock off most of the antics while their team is in charge.

Roh-Dog

‘We have not yet begun to [quit]!’ —PPB RRT…allegedly. Edited for length and content. Colorized.
I’m half tempted to beg, borrow or steal a semi trailer full of sand bags and drive to Port-o-potland. Some decent folks are gon wanna set up fighting/blocking positions.

26Limabeans

I recall a photo from the Watts riots of a sand bag bunker
with an M-60 poking over the top. Can’t find it in the following
collection of on line photos.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Watts+riots+photos&t=newext&iax=images&ia=images

Fix bayonets!

Roh-Dog

Bayonets? Naw. Too close.
It’s not water cannoning if you use diesel.

KoB

Where is a Mike Havel or a Juniper Mackenzie when we need one? Should we call for A Meeting at Corvallis? Like George Orwell, S.M Stirling had no idea that his “Dies The Fire” Series would become a “How To” book. Wanna borry my Zippo? Think we could add some type of jellied compound to that diesel.

Breakfast time is nearly here, and guess who is planning on being a guest.

Hack Stone

The entire Police Force should resign. The citizens elected these assholes, let them deal with the consequences. Those that did not vote for them can relocate as political refugees, and the Federal Government should pick up the tab for them, like they do with all of the “undocumented immigrants fleeing climate change”.

Jason

I’m really not surprised by this. The PPD have had their hands tied through all of the riots, even when they were taking actual gunfire, they were told that if they returned fire, they would be held criminally liable.

This incident happened when they were ordered to clear Pioneer Courthouse Square by federal authorities. A group of rioters were bear-macing the officers and the cops were not gentle in disbursing the crowd.

It doesn’t really matter, though. This just means there are less officers to stand around doing absolutely nothing during violent rioting. It’s not like they could actually do anything to begin with, because the mayor still has standing orders for them to not get involved with any “protest-related activities” regardless of any crimes they witness.

Name edited to protect PII.
AW1

E4 Mafia '83-'87

And The Left wonders why crime is exploding in all of their Utopian Cities. If I’m a cop nowadays, the first person I’m protecting is myself. I would respond to every call after carefully weighing all my options then make a “Business Decision” on how to proceed. As a result, the people that need the police the most will be negatively impacted…but they’re the lemmings following the lead of politicians that live behind high walls and their own security. Maybe they’ll learn, but probably not.

Hate_me

Did they resign from the PPB, or just the riot squad?

“Unprecedented” might be a bit much, if it’s the latter. Buffalo’s riot unit did something similar about a year ago.

HMCS(FMF) ret

The resigned from the Rapid Response Team, not the police bureau…

rgr769

Service on the RRT is entirely voluntary. Why anyone would volunteer to fight rioters every other night is a mystery. But then I served in an all volunteer unit in the Viet of the Nam when I knew the politicians in DC would not let us fight the war to win.

Only Army Mom

Normally, I harbor a modicum of sympathy for the good people who are and will be victimized by the consequences of liberal stupidity. In this case and a few select others (looking at you Chicago) I just can’t muster it. Not really trying either.

The Commissar, er, Mayor of Portapotty is bad, but now where near as bad as the DA Mikey Schmitdhead. He ran on a promise of prosecuting evil police who got rough with those poor, innocent, mostly peaceful protestors. And they voted for him.

Elections have consequences, folks. Embrace yours, good people of Portapotty. Schadenfreude defined.

26Limabeans

“I just can’t muster it”
I know how you feel. Surely there are good hard working
people in that area who deserve better from their leaders.
But there are roads leading away and if you cannot take
advantage of that then my sympathy meter will read low.

R.T

We cannot assume that “voters” matter anymore in those “elections”. Who do we suppose counts the “votes”?

HMCS(FMF) ret

I knew this was coming… know an officer on the force over in Portlandistan and they have no support from the DA, city council or the mayor/police commissioner.

BTW – drove through the heart of the city last Sunday… third world shitholes (Olongapo) look better than Portlandistan right now. Pantyfa/BLM has the city by the balls… and there’s nobody that will put a stop to them or their rioting.

3/17 Air Cav

I live just across the river from Portland, on the Washington side. My last visit to downtown Portland was two years ago. Absolute shithole! Homeless everywhere, tarps, bedding, shopping carts, and garbage blocking the sidewalks and businesses. It used to be such a beautiful city.

My college roommate and baseball teammate from fifty years ago runs a community action program just east of Portland. I’ve had many discussions with him about the state of affairs in Oregon it falls on deaf ears. His reply is always “they need to eat too” I’m done with him and those in kind “left leaning” assholes I don’t plan on speaking with him again! Ever.

HMCS(FMF) ret

3/17… it’s worse that two years ago… much worse.

Claw

Am glad to see you check in. Was wondering if you were still above ground and checking the net.

Have a nice day./s

rgr769

I have a relative that lives in Portland. His take on this is he just doesn’t go downtown. That is his solution to the destruction of this once beautiful city. He won’t get it until the Antifastani’s and the BLM’ers come to burn down his house.

Roh-Dog

Maybe he partially agrees he’s on stolen land, therefor his property is partially subject to ‘fiery but mostly peaceful’ forms of ‘protest’, because reasons.
I pray your relative and his cohort are blessed with knowledge and discernment before pain teaches them in ways most foul.

rgr769

Thanks. I told him his Portland insurrectionists were claiming his neighborhood was on “stolen land.” He just got annoyed and said they were never coming to his street. Got mad when I called him an “ostrich.”

rgr1480

I’ll be driving from San Jose CA to Everett WA in August. Is Interstate 5 safe through Portland?

Thanks.

HMCS(FMF) ret

Take the 205 south of Portland – it goes to the east of downtown… won’t see as much of the filth as you would going through the Rose Quarter area.

The 205 hooks back up with the 5 north of Vancouver, WA. There is a good steakhouse near there if your hungry:

http://www.billygansroadhouse.com/

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

in a liberal demorat’s view, there is nothing wrong with peaceful rioting along with peaceful property destruction, peaceful assaults on people and peacefully fire bombing buildings. i guess portland’s penal code differs from new york state. when i had to qualify every other year to carry a handgun at work, we had to know the states penal code and one of the crimes where deadly force came in was when a person was in the process of fire bombing a building but it is quite different in peaceful portland. i just mentioned one of the crimes/felony.

A Proud Infidel®™

Anymore I say “FUCK ‘EM!” and let the libtard loonies allow their fiefdoms to burn and decay and once it happens, let them stay there, DO NOT let them migrate and infest other locations because IMHO the decay of places like Portland and Seattle are the result of California libtards migrating and infesting other locales!

gitarcarver

There is much here to discuss….. First, the Police in Portland and especially the members of this voluntary unit are extremely frustrated. Perhaps rightfully so. After all, they were told by leaders to somehow quell the rioting and violence while not being able to respond to that violence. As someone on another blog wrote, the police were supported by civic leaders up to the point of what was printed on the front page of the Oregonian and then everything from that point on was the fault of the police. The Rapid Response Unit, as a whole, was placed in an untenable position and most people can understand the frustration. However, even frustrated cops still have to abide by the law. LarsLawson’s comment of Officer Budworth “accidently striking a woman in the head,” is belied by the video of him attacking the woman. See: https://youtu.be/yaE_3meh1iQ As the woman runs away from Budworth, he strikes her in the back of the head with crosscheck from his baton and when she stumbles to the ground and sits up, he crosschecks her again in the forehead with the baton. That’s not an accident. That’s an assault. It is against the law and should be against the law. If people want to say “the protestors did the same thing and worse,” that is the equivalent of “Mommy, they did it too!” We should not excuse the lawless acts of people based on the lawless acts of others. If the woman was filmed attacking the officer in the same manner, we would all rightfully be calling for her to be arrested and prosecuted. That is why Officer Budworth needed to be indicted by a Grand Jury and charged. If the members of the Rapid Response Unit resigned because of conflicting messages and lack of support from the City leaders, that’s understandable. If they resigned in protest and solidarity in regards to Budworth’s actions, they should be let go as officers. You cannot have law enforcement supporting lawlessness. The same is true for City officials. If they condoned the rioting and lawlessness, they need to go as… Read more »

Hate_me

There was speculation when this happened in Buffalo that, while many resigned in solidarity for the accused officers, others resigned because the PBA pulled its protections for the unit and the brass demonstrated an unwillingness to support them in future issues.

I’m a bit less inclined to judge this incident solely on that video. Among many of the lessons learned from the whole George Floyd debacle is that videos are not the unvarnished truth they are generally thought to be, and must be contextualized.

gitarcarver

Hate_me,

Normally I would agree with you on context but in this case, there is no need for the second blow to the forehead of the woman. She was out of the way, she was not obstructing anything or anyone and was not a threat.

It’s assault.

Hate_me

It seems like she’s reaching for something as she looks up for that final blow – I can’t really tell.

Beyond that, perhaps she had deployed a similar hit-and-run tactic prior (one of the other clips in your link shows someone that might have been her running in a different instance), and, even if it doesn’t entirely excuse the officer from responsibility, it may add justification. My point is the video is nothing but a snapshot in time – as was the Floyd video.

However one may feel about the Chauvin verdict, it’s difficult to argue that the initial Floyd video was as cut-and-dried as initially presented.

You may be right and the strike was entirely unwarranted, but I can’t be sure from what’s shown.

Poetrooper

“We are a nation of laws, not a nation that supports violent criminals.”

Except that the reality is that a sizable segment of the nation DOES, in fact, support violent criminals if they’re leftists or members of a Democrat identity group.

gitarcarver

I am confused.

So while others support lawlessness from people, we should support lawlessness for those who swear to uphold and obey the law?

There are millions of interactions with the police that go off without a hitch on a daily basis. To condemn all cops on the basis of this one incident would be a wrong as accepting his assault because others support lawless activities as well.

The cop was wrong. He was rightfully charged and should face the consequences of his actions.

Poetrooper

“So while others support lawlessness from people, we should support lawlessness for those who swear to uphold and obey the law?”

Nope, that’s not what I am saying. I’m merely pointing out that while our side of the political spectrum tends to hold our offenders accountable, those on the left are more inclined to ignore or minimize the criminal/corrupt offenses of their own.

Corrupt or criminal Republicans are forced to resign their offices and are punished accordingly by the courts. Democrats guilty of the same offenses are seen as enhancing their party bonafides with their colleagues circling the party wagons around them.

If the Portland cop is clearly guilty, then he should face charges.

Commissar

Since they didn’t resign from the force, and only resigned from the protest response team then this is just a stunt.

Fortunately, they self selected as not mentally fit for protest or riot control.

The cop was indicted with a misdemeanor after bashing a woman in the face with a baton AFTER he had already knocked her to the ground.

It was excessive force.

Cops do not have the right to do shit like that.

Cops have more protection from prosecution and more immunity from civil liability for using force than the average citizen does…but the justification for force is limited to necessity or fear for the safety of themselves or others.

Bashing her in the face was not a necessary use of force. Neither was it necessary for public safety.

I would think all you “small government” conservatives would not be OK with armed agents of the state harming citizens without lawful necessity.

UpNorth

And, you “self-selected” as one who’s pontifications on law enforcement and use of force should be, for eternity, disregarded, ignored and thrown back in your face. GFY!

Poetrooper

You were doing fairly well there, Lars, until you just had to throw that snotty “small government” remark in there.

Small government doesn’t have anything to do with this situation.

You’re daft as usual…

Commissar

Actually, it does.

Conservatives have tried to redefine the issue as though it is only about tax law, government spending, market regulations, guns, and the right to impose your religious beliefs onto other people.

But in actual fact, how agents of the state treat citizens, and how much violence the government uses toward citizens…are essential elements of the discussion concerning the role and size of government.

Roh-Dog

I’m too lazy to look it up iffn it was, honestly IDGAF, two keywords for the granola-souls in here: unlawful assembly.
If so declared, especially if there was a curfew in effect, and riotous behavior in the group…the justification for use of force *kinda* goes out the window.
Day-after-day, these LEOs go on the street, into harms’ way; bottles(w/ or w/o feces and urine), fireworks, eye-dangerous lasers, cars as weapons, during dumpsters…I’ll stop.
Was THIS act justified….?
(Here’s your trigger warning, you hippy f*gg*ts)

I don’t care.
Let me suggest you go watch a video, Bill Burr, search for “No reason to hit a woman?” on youtube for an analogism.
I can not justify this out-of-context act per se, but I am *tired* of the demonstrations. You want a police-state or fascism? Despotism?
This crap is how you get it. The constant and consistent disruptions to peoples’ lives over…..what? SERIOUSLY?! WHAT?!
You want law enforcement to be hung for acting brashly ONCE or, oh my gosh TWICE after babysitting the better part of 2 years?
GFY
I hope they crack your fucking skulls right the fuck in.
And you’ll stop.
And if you don’t? You get stopped.
And if the cops don’t stop at just you…
We’ll have to see ’bout that one.
But every damn demonstration, protest or rally I’ve been to its the Left that pushes the envelope, starts the assaults, acts like victims, name calls and insults. You’re a puerile group thats getting too big for your britches.
You don’t want the cops to go away.
You don’t want the cops to stop hitting you.
You sick fucks ENJOY it.
Admit it.
(ah, catharsis reached)