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Friday, February 13, 2009

News / Portland CHIERS Conversation

Posted by Matt Davis on Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 10:17 AM

A Mercury staffer looked out their window in SE Portland last night, to see a homeless-looking man passed out drunk in the front yard. They called CHIERS, and were told to "ask him to move along."

When asked why CHIERS wouldn't come out to take care of the guy, the Mercury staffer says they were told "we can't come onto your private property."

At this point, the man stood up, shakily, and walked off down the street.

"Well, I guess it's taken care of," said the CHIERS dispatcher, reportedly.

End of conversation.

 

Comments (6) RSS

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1
So that's where I was last night. Luckily there were no cats involved. No need really.
Posted by Graham on February 13, 2009 at 10:40 AM · Report
2
Similar thing happened when I was over at a friends on Taylor about six weeks ago (when there was still snow everywhere). I went out and asked if the guy was okay, and if he could at least move out of the path of the front doorway; he was pretty nonresponsive. Not having the number for anything else handy (long story), we called the police station to get some sort of help number, and they "took care of it" by sending a fire truck and an ambulance... whoo. Overkill, but on the bright side, I guess they can go on to private property. Meow.
Posted by tk. on February 13, 2009 at 10:46 AM · Report
3
CHIERS usually responds to calls about drunks to 911. You can read a little more about the service, here:

http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/in_the…

On the overkill front, it's unusual for the cops to send a crew of fire paramedics unless the person really is nonresponsive, or having a heart attack:

http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/in-the…
Posted by Matt Davis on February 13, 2009 at 10:54 AM · Report
4
Next time, it's calling information for CHIERS, it looks like. I'm guessing they sent the fire crew because this was 39th & Taylor and the station is only about three blocks down.
Posted by tk. on February 13, 2009 at 11:13 AM · Report
5
I drink your lack of confrontation skills. I drink them up!
Posted by idrinktheline on February 13, 2009 at 12:39 PM · Report
6
COMMENT DELETED: Spam
We'd rather not moderate your comments, but off-topic, gratuitously inflammatory, threatening, or otherwise inappropriate remarks may be removed, and repeat offenders may be banned from commenting. We never censor comments based on ideology. Thanks to all who add to the conversation.
Posted by A cat on February 13, 2009 at 1:04 PM · Report

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