CHASSE: Unanswered questions…

Back in September, the Mental Health Association of Portland presented Mayor Tom Potter with a list of unanswered questions about Jim Chasse’s death. Some highlights from that list, which you can read in full here:

Question
On reflection, do you believe the police department and Rosie Sizer in particular handled the Chasse case appropriately?

Question
Has the city fully and completely disclosed all documents and records regarding the Chasse case to the legal team heading the civil suit filed by the family?

Question
No officer has been indicted for excessive force by our current district attorney. How can it truly be possible no Portland police officer has used excessive force during the last decade?

Question
How can the City of Portland maintain a contract relationship with AMR after what happened to James Chasse? After 16 ribs broken, Taser shots, shoulder broken, punctured lungs, how could they send him to jail as if he were unharmed?

Question
In your opinion, would different officers have responded differently to James Chasse? Would James be alive today if Nice, Humphrey and Burton were not involved?

Question
What part of the CIT training imbues mercy and compassion to police officers? What part of CIT training teaches de-escalation and rapport building techniques to promote peaceful outcomes? If this is not part of CIT training, can there be another source that can incorporate these basic principles of crisis management into this curriculum?

Question
Would justice and public trust been better served in cases such as James Chasse’s with an independent investigation and an independent prosecutor?

Question
How can we explain the death of James Chasse to our children, and that the men who are responsible for his death were not held accountable?

Question
Please explain why other citizens should be held accountable when the district attorney’s office failed to hold the men responsible for James Chasse’s death accountable?

Question
Since when is looking odd a crime?

Today, Tom Potter replied, albeit 6 days after the deadline set by the Mental Health Association, with this letter, which you can download here. There’ll be more on it in this week’s paper. But to give you some idea in the meantime, Potter ended his letter by suggesting members of the Mental Health Association all go on a ride along with a police officer—which sounds like less of an answer than posing another question, to me.