Portland Police Riot Team Resigns After Officer Indicted for Assault During Riot
“He faced a violent and chaotic, rapidly evolving situation, and he used the lowest level of baton force — a push; not a strike or a jab”
The entire Portland Police Department’s riot team resigned after Officer Corey Budworth’s indictment for allegedly assaulting a photographer in 2020 during a Black Lives Matter protest.
The Charges
On June 15, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt announced his office charged Budworth “with one count of fourth degree assault, a misdemeanor, for physically injuring someone during an Aug. 18, 2020, protest.”
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
“In this case, we allege that no legal justification existed for Officer Budworth’s deployment of force, and that the deployment of force was legally excessive under the circumstances,” Schmidt said in a statement on Tuesday. “My office will continue to do everything we can to ensure justice is done without error or delay and that we make sure our work and practices are rooted in fairness and equity.”
Response From the Police
The Portland Police Bureau statement suggested the resignations began immediately on June 16. The 50 officers returned to their “primary roles as employees.”
The Portland Police Association (PPA) released its statement on Budworth’s indictment on Tuesday.
From Fox News:
“Unfortunately, this decorated public servant has been caught in the crossfire of agenda-driven city leaders and a politicized criminal justice system,” the Portland Police Association said Tuesday after a Multnomah County grand jury charged Budworth with one count of fourth-degree assault related to the Aug. 18, 2020, incident.
That night, according to the police union, about 200 demonstrators – many equipped with tactical helmets, faces covered, and armed with a variety of weapons – descended on the Multnomah Building in southeast Portland. Multiple dumpsters were set on fire, buildings were defaced, and windows were broken. A riot soon was declared at the planned event after someone from the crowd launched a Molotov cocktail into the building, setting it ablaze.
“After nearly 75 consecutive nights of violence, destruction, and mayhem, a small group of RRT (Rapid Response Team) officers — including Officer Budworth — were again tasked with dealing with the riot,” the Portland Police Association said. “Per PPB Command Staff orders, RRT officers cleared the rioters from the area to allow the Fire Bureau to extinguish the blaze. But the rioters were not satisfied.”
The union claimed the rioters regrouped and knocked Budworth to the ground as they marched towards the building. Some tried to stop officers from arresting one person.
Officers had to use “pepper spray and less lethal munitions as the crowd grew more aggressive”:
“RRT officers, including Officer Budworth, used their Police Bureau-issued batons to try and stop the crowd’s criminal activity,” the union’s description of events continued. “Per his training and in response to the active aggression of a rioter interfering with a lawful arrest, Officer Budworth used baton pushes to move a rioter, now known to be Teri Jacobs, out of the area.”
Fox News mentioned a video of Budworth hitting Jacobs on the head from behind that went viral on social media:
Cop 37 shoves woman hitting her from behind in the head with baton, then hits her again in the face with baton while she is sitting on the ground pic.twitter.com/t4phwbWpsK
— John #FreePalestine (@Johnnthelefty) August 19, 2020
The union described the incident as an accident. They noted Budworth “used the lowest level of baton force”:
“Reasonably believing that she was getting back up to re-engage in her unlawful activities, Officer Budworth employed one last baton push to try and keep her on the ground, which accidentally struck Ms. Jacobs in the head,” the union said. “The location of Officer Budworth’s last baton push was accidental, not criminal. He faced a violent and chaotic, rapidly evolving situation, and he used the lowest level of baton force — a push; not a strike or a jab — to remove Ms. Jacobs from the area.”
The association accused Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office of playing politics with Budworth by ignoring “the violent nature of the crowd and Ms. Jacob’s criminal activity.”
“Officer Budworth did exactly as he was trained,” said the PPA. “Don’t just take our word for it; PPB’s own experts reviewed his actions and found them reasonable, permissible, and in accordance with his training.”
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Comments
Who knew the Portland Police had a riot squad after the past year of riots. This is one way to successfully defund the police.
If you had bothered to read the news you would have known.
There are 2 surprising parts about this:
1) That Portland HAD a riot squad to begin with.
2) That it took them this long to resign.
Dental plan. Don’t want to lose it.
They didn’t resign from the department, only the squad.
Resign from the force amd I’ll be impressed.
Why should they give up their livelihood? What would they do instead? Are they supposed to let their families starve over a principle? Let the taxpayers who voted for this garbage pay them. And let them not put themselves in unnecessary danger.
Woke response is coming soon and it’ll likely say this is proof of coordinated and systemic racism. They all resigned because they were angry about getting caught being systemically racist.
The power of circular logic.
#1 “Rioters” don’t “regroup”…. that is what organized militias and terrorists with battle plans do in armed conflicts.
Militias, terrorists and mostly peaceful protesters.
Same with “peaceful protesters”
#2 Antifa/BLM beat the hell out of neutral observers with cameras. Aside from Andy Ngo who has been assaulted on many occasions, only Antifa/BLM cameras and their journalists are able to run freely during the conflicts. Capturing this footage and editing it down to make the cops look bad is part of their central battle plan.
#3 Many of the participants in this war disguise themselves as journalists and just hide their journalist insignia while they launch rockets and other projectiles at cops and buildings. Conveniently there is not video of what this woman was doing in the 2 minutes prior to getting knocked on her can.
#4- The only logical reason a cop should stay on duty in Portland or Seattle is to suck tax money out of the morons who live there. Honestly – I’m cheering for antifa/BLM to burn both cities to the ground.
I on the one hand applaud them because nobody should be subject to the fascists of Oregon.
On the other hand you know the fascists will be replacing them with Antifa versions of them who will be more or less what you have seen BLM/Antifa been doing but with official instead of unofficial power.
Happiness is Portland in your rear view mirror.
And the faster the drive away the happier a view it is
Reminds of a song from years past.
Bye bye love I’ll catch you later
Got a left foot down on my accelerator and the rear view mirror torn off
I ain’t never lookin’ back and that’s a fact
I’ve tried all I can imagine
I’ve begged and pleaded in true lover’s fashion
I’ve got pride I’m takin’ it for a ride
Bye bye, bye bye my baby, bye bye
Armed drug dealing thugs will know not to shoot antifa because they are the “good” woke police ???? It doesn’t work like that.
Well drug dealers don’t generally shoot at police they shoot at each other. At issue is more how the police themselves behave do they try to be impartial agents of the law however flawed in practice or are they agents of the Democrat party?
I think you are watching many police departments shift into agents of the Democrat Party.
Police get shot at.
The types who shoot at police, don’t give 2 shits about the politics.
As it stands now, the antifa/BLM types hold positions in the prosecutor’s offices of Portland, Seattle and every other city. The cops are the blue collar guys who run head on into the meat grinder these cities have become. It’s not so different than soldiers in Iraq / Afghanistan under Obama…. stand there and get at by the bad guys under impossible ROEs. Except now the real enemy is in the prosecutor, mayor, and governors’ offices. I have very little sympathy to these cities, They all voted 60/40 for exactly this.
In the end, all of us are dancing to these pricks tune. I very much object to this.
The whole department should catch Blue Flu. Or even go outright on strike. Sure, it’s illegal, but what can the government do about it? It surely won’t be able to hire anyone else to replace them.
I suspect that most equity in their homes has evaporated. That means less reason to stay. That is what happened to our family in the mid sixties. City police need to leave cities, and the rest of us need to start building wall around them.
I agree with you, Milhouse – almost. I’d recommend Blue Flew – as in getting out of that cesspool pretending to be a city.
Part of the plan. I can’t wait for the ” community ” policing videos to arrive.
Imagine a social justice community organizer getting a welfare check call to handle a demented 290 naked oiled up man with a knife.
Should be a huge laugher.
At a minimum the resignation of the members of the team from the riot control unit will disrupt the ability of the City to respond.
They were able to deploy the team v bringing in officers from patrol duties. Additionally the members had advanced training in riot control and were a cohesive tactical unit.
Now the city will deploy regular beat cops, who have less extensive riot training and lack the discipline and cohesion of a dedicated team.
Which means, less LEO available during riots, potential for escalated use of force injuries to rioters from regular beat cops, potential for more injuries to the officers deployed due to lesser training and cohesiveness.
Great job Portland. Unintended consequences are a bitch.