This Week in the Mercury

This Ain't Tales of the City

Books

This Ain't Tales of the City

Kevin Killian's Spreadeagle Is an Ambitious Novel of Gay Life


Geek Out

Film

Geek Out

Devil's Advocate



  |  

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Cops Report: Chasse Cop "Out of Policy" in Road-Rage Incident

Posted by Denis C. Theriault on Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 8:59 AM

news3-570.jpg
The Portland Copwatch email group got an interesting eyeful last night. Dan Handelman, after speaking with the attorney of a driver who last year found himself in a road-rage spat with off-duty Portland police Sergeant Kyle Nice, shared the lowdown on the police bureau's internal investigation of the incident.

I haven't had a chance yet to call the Portland Police Bureau or Greg Kafoury, the attorney representing Neil Ruffin.

Update: I spoke with Greg Kafoury's son, Jason Kafoury. A copy of the Police Review Board's findings are here. Also, here's Maxine Bernstein's story in the O.

Original post resumes here: But, according to Handelman, Nice apparently was found "out of policy" for the April 2010 incident, in which he pulled his gun out at Ruffin, showed Ruffin his police identification card, and then dared Ruffin to "go ahead and call the police."

The Bureau found:

1—Nice "exhibited inappropriate off-duty behavior" including the use of profanity and gestures, and that he had "other, more appropriate options."

2—Nice inappropriately drew his weapon (but, according to a witness, did not point it at Ruffin), which "exacerbated an already tense situation and did not serve to diffuse the tension."

The Mercury has previously reported on the investigation here and here. And Nice, as you might remember, has had a controversial career with the bureau. He was one of the officers reprimanded for the 2006 beating death of James Chasse Jr. and also was accused of intimidating an activist inside a jail cell in 2007.

According to a Washington County police report filed after the April 3, 2010, road-rage incident, Nice accused Ruffin of nearly crashing into his car outside Chevron gas station. He then said he saw Ruffin following him down a side street, prompting him to stop his car and approach Ruffin's with his gun drawn.

"He said he was a little upset because his six week old child was in the car with two bottles of propane and it could have been a bad crash," the report says.

Ruffin, in the same report, said Nice had honked at him out of nowhere and mouthed profanities at him before driving off. Ruffin says he then followed Nice and was about to get out of his car, except that...


"...before he got out he saw Nice in between the front of his car and the back of Nice's truck with a pistol out. He said Nice had the pistol close to his left side put the barrel was pointing right at him. He said Nice said "You fucken can't drive you fucken ass hole." Ruffin said he had not got out of his vehicle yet and had said "What the hell?" while Nice had the gun in his hand. He said he asked Nice what happened and why did he need to flip him off and call him an asshole. He said he then decided to call the police because he didn't know if Nice was "crazy or what." He said he then told Nice he was calling the police and had looked down to dial the number. He said when he looked back up Nice had his police identification out and had it facing Ruffin. Ruffin told me Nice had said "go ahead and call the police." Ruffin said the identification was not a badge but looked more like an ID card with Police on it."

A few days later, after the case had made its way around the media, Ruffin and Kafoury, filed suit against the city and Nice. Stay tuned for updates today.

 

Comments (5) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
cocaine. it's a hell of a drug.
Posted by McAngryPants on February 9, 2011 at 9:16 AM · Report
2
just looking at the captioned picture of Nice, one immediately sees he's a sourpuss that's on the verge of a homicidal rage, just waiting to burst forth at the slightest provocation...it's no wonder he stomp James Chasse to death thinking the poor man had merely pissed on the sidewalk...no evidence was ever offered that Chasse had indeed pee'd on said sidewalk, just that Nuttier-in-Charge THOUGHT he had...why is this ass still wearing a badge and carrying a gun????...he ought to be fired and forced to go home to Washington County and look for a new job with City of Beaverton, who you'll recall proudly hired another PPB reject...Jason Sery...brothers of a feather can then flock together!
Posted by Bad Robot on February 9, 2011 at 9:51 AM · Report
3
Just looking at Bad Robot's quasi-literate diatribe, one immediately sees that he's a manic-depressive that's on the verge of yet another bout of logorrhea, just waiting to burst forth at the slightest mention of the police...it's no wonder he fails to have an original thought on any topic...no evidence of any education or erudition has been brought forth, just that Stupider-in-Stupidest THOUGHT he had...why is this ass still allowed to touch computers and use the internet????...he ought to be gently removed from public discourse and taken back to the small town he grew up in and knock up his high school sweet heart, who you'll recall proudly blew the entire football team...and the basketball team...brothers of a sports team can mix their metaphors!
Posted by Graham on February 9, 2011 at 10:20 AM · Report
4
Wow, @Graham, FTW.

Though I would agree Nice shouldn't be wearing a badge and/or carrying a gun. If I am acting aggressively toward you, then draw a sidearm the issue of whether I actually pointed it at you or not becomes sort of a trivial distinction. The snippets of the report offered here seem to minimize the incident, which is to be expected, I suppose.
Posted by JakeM on February 9, 2011 at 12:28 PM · Report
5
something occurred to me while reading Graham's diatribe and that is that he doesn't follow the rules in that his commentary has nothing whatsoever to do with Sgt. Kyle Nice and the story reported...it's nothing but a childish stab-in-the-dark against me (Bad Robot) and seeing he feels his comments are so important, I thought I'd offer a really good suggestion>>>why doesn't Graham start his own blog page where he can write all the crap he can--to his heart's content--and those who wish to read his thoughts (if their are any...?) can read all the want. However, if he's going to stay here writing rant 'n' rave Hit 'n' Run pieces, the least we can do is hold him to the rules...
Posted by Bad Robot on February 9, 2011 at 5:41 PM · Report

Add a comment

Our Friends

Our Enemies

/images/adoftheweek.gif

ad of the day

The Handyman Pro - Your Honey-Do Specialist
Don’t let our name fool you. The Handyman Pro, LLC is a repair and remodel service provider with over 25-years experience. We cover all aspects of construction and repairs for residential and commercial clients.go


post an ad

All contents © Index Newspapers, LLC

115 SW Ash St. Suite 600
Portland, OR 97204

Contact Info | Privacy Policy | Production Guidelines | Terms of Use