I’ve been writing a story on Portland’s Raging Grannies for this week’s paper, which you can read tomorrow evening when it hits the streets—but as sometimes (cough…rarely…) happens, we didn’t have space to include all of it in the paper. So. Here’s a little extra:SERGEANT SCHAFFER: “Goddammit! I’m a 50-year-old man…”

The Grannies successfully filed an Independent Police Review complaint against Sergeant Mark Schaffer of the Portland Police Bureau, for his behavior during their Good Friday protest on April 5, outside the military recruiting center on NE Broadway. You can see Schaffer confronting the grannies, asking them “Are you Communists?”, before shoving one of them, Bonnie Tinker, who is in her sixties, out of the way from 8:47 on this video, previously linked to by the good people at Indymedia.

Sgt. Schaffer received a “service complaint” as a result of his behavior at the center. His supervisor, Lt.Bob Day, told Schaffer that “he was not to initiate confrontation and that his job was to monitor, not inflame, the situation,” according to Shauna Curphey of the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center, which filed the complaint. “Finally, he told Sgt.Schaffer that his use of force was unacceptable because he took independent action rather than wait or radio for support,” wrote Curphey in a June 14 email to three of the grannies, documenting the outcome of their complaint.

Schaffer retired today, and thankfully, called the Mercury to give his side of the story. I can’t tell you how awesome that is—whether or not you disagree with the guy, it’s unusual for a cop to give a quote to the media and I appreciate it.

“They violated the law,” says Schaffer. “They were blocking my way and I used reasonable force to get by them. As I explained to them, I’m a 50 year-old man and I have a right to move where I want to. They do not have a right to impede my movement.”

“I’m all for causes, I have my own causes,” Schaffer continues. “But they committed a crime. It’d be the exact same thing if they were blocking an abortion clinic.”

Tinker was never arrested for blocking the doorway. Meanwhile, 6 others were arrested for making hand prints and footprints on the walls and floor of the center with fake, water-soluble blood. Read more about them taking those charges to the mat with the District Attorney in tomorrow’s paper. And long live free speech!