DA’s Office Drops Charges On 59 Rioters In Portland, Including Suspected Felony Arsonist

Multnomah County district attorney Rod Underhill has dropped charges on 59 people who have been arrested on suspicion of various different crimes over the last seven weeks of protests that have commonly devolved into riots. Some of these are small, petty crimes, such as Failure To Obey, which some journalists were charged with, while others are more serious felonies, including a suspected arsonist.

KGW reports:

Dozens of protesters arrested during mass demonstrations in downtown Portland have had their criminal charges dropped and cases closed.

KGW analysis of police and court records shows the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office dropped charges against at least 59 of the roughly 400 protesters arrested since mass demonstrations started in Portland in late May.

Most of the dropped charges were misdemeanor offenses such as interfering with a police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Nine cases dismissed by prosecutors involved more serious felony charges, including riot, arson and theft in the first degree.

In one case, Portland police arrested a 25-year-old protester for allegedly setting fire to a Chase Bank in downtown Portland on May 30, the second night of large-scale protests in the city. The Portland resident was charged with arson, criminal mischief and riot. KGW is not naming the person because charges have been dismissed.

A Multnomah County prosecutor described in a probable cause affidavit how the person bragged about using a Molotov cocktail to start the fire and talked about plans to go “out on another mission and the goal would be to set another fire.” When confronted by detectives, the person admitted being present when the fire started but denied setting it, according to the court documents.

KGW’s review of court and jail records found most of those suspects do not spend any time in jail; instead, they’re often given a citation or booked and released.

On June 15, Portland police issued a press release detailing the arrest of 14 adults related to overnight demonstrations. The protesters ranged in age from 19 to 52 years old. The charges listed by Portland police included disorderly conduct, interfering with a police officer resisting arrest, escape in the third degree.

Court records indicate charges against all 14 defendants have been dropped and their cases are closed.

“What that does is it makes arrests meaningless,” said Josh Marquis, former Clatsop County District Attorney.

The former prosecutor was not involved in these decisions and believes it would be unfair to give demonstrators who violate the law a free pass.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/07/das-office-drops-charges-59-rioters-portland-including-suspected-felony-arsonist/

Detroit Police Chief Calls Cop 'a Hero' For Shooting Armed Suspect

Police arrived at an address on Detroit’s west side to execute a warrant for the arrest of a suspect in a homicide. While making the arrest, a bystander suddenly pulled a gun out of his waistband, took aim at the head of a police officer and pulled the trigger.

Thankfully, he missed. Fellow officers then opened fire, killing the shooter — 20-year-old Hakeem Littleton.

The entire scene was caught on bodycam video.

Immediately after the shooting, rumors began flying on social media that Littleton was unarmed. That’s all it took for a mob to form and a tense situation developed between protesters and police.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig called the officer who fired the shots that killed Littleton “a hero.”

Newsweek:

“This officer is a hero,” Craig said during the press conference. “He is what I would describe as an American hero.”

The unnamed officer shot and killed Littleton on Friday afternoon while trying to arrest Darnell Sylvester on an active federal arrest warrant for drug distribution. Littleton was present during Sylvester’s arrest. Sylvester was a suspect in an early morning July 5 shooting that killed three and injured five.

The fact that Littleton took deliberate aim and fired at a police officer’s head apparently doesn’t matter to the mob.

MLive:

“They killed a man today,” Scorpio said, ” I don’t give a f**what happened, they shouldn’t have killed a man today…

“We are fighting for a system where the police shouldn’t have been there to begin with, the police shouldn’t be putting people in positions where they feel like they have to protect their lives because they see a badge.”

Got that? It was “self-defense.”(!)

The mob began to throw water bottles at police which resulted in the cops firing teargas into the crowd. The mob then marched to the police precinct where 100 of them sat in the rain and chanted “Black Lives Matter.”

It’s easy to see how even cut and dried cases of justified police shootings can be twisted to serve the interests of the mob.

After the Chief spoke to reporters, Asar Amen-Ra, a man who described himself as the uncle of the dead man, said he did not believe the police’s version of the story.

“We hear one thing from the police, and another thing from the community. The community told us that the police pulled up, told (him) to get on the ground. He put his hands up, and these mother f—— shot him in the back of the head,” said Amen-Ra, adding his sister had been to the hospital and saw his nephew’s body. “He has got two shots in back of his head, plus other bullet wounds.”

Amen-Ra said the time for peaceful protesting is over.

Amen-Ra identified the victim as 20-year-old Hakim Littleton, whom he described as a “typical young kid” who worked all the time and was “doing his thing.”

Littleton’s “thing” included being a member of a local street gang, according to police.

You can’t shoot a gun at a policeman’s head and expect to live. But in Black Lives Matter America, the truth doesn’t matter. Facts are irrelevant. What matters is the cause and in service to that, anything goes.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/07/11/detroit-police-chief-calls-cop-a-hero-for-shooting-armed-suspect-n631844

Cashless Only: COVID-19 Frenzy Jumpstarts the Cashless Society

Cashless society is coming quicker than anyone imagined, as COVID-19 fear accelerates the move — but at what cost to liberty?

The Pittsburg Post-Gazette reported last week on a rare holdout: Tom Ivory, founder of Philadelphia’s Baker Street Bread Co.

After years of fighting against bank fees by insisting on cash for smaller transactions, more than three-quarters of purchases “at the cafe and store are now paid through credit cards or other electronic transfer.” That’s up from 10% just five years ago, according to the story.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stephen-green/2020/07/11/cashless-only-covid-19-frenzy-jumpstarts-the-cashless-society-n631812