Pissing off the police union president while Black

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty planning to take legal action against Portland regarding false hit-and-run allegations

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PORTLAND, Ore. — Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s legal representation wrote the city of Portland to make them aware that she plans to take legal action against the city for its role in wrongly accusing her of being the suspect in a hit-and-run in March. The notice of claim says former Portland Police Association (PPA) president and Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officer Brian Hunzeker wrongfully leaked the incorrect information about Hardesty having participated in a criminal hit-and-run to other city employees and to the press. The information was leaked to The Oregonian and right-wing media sources, disseminating the information quickly.

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On March 3, 2021, at 4:48 p.m., a Black woman driving a tan Toyota Corolla was involved in a hit-and-run with a white woman. The hit-and-run victim called the city to report that Ms. Hardesty was the person who had hit her. She “swore on her life” that it was Commissioner Hardesty that had hit her. At around 11:24 p.m., police met with the hit-and-run victim to investigate her complaint. Around 1 a.m., police arrived at Hardesty’s home and, according to Hardesty’s representation, knocked so loudly on Hardesty’s door that it woke her neighbors. The notice says that this was likely done in an attempt to do a “perp walk” with Hardesty. “This show of force was extreme given that the reported damage to the vehicle was a one-centimeter circle on the white woman’s bumper possibly caused by the license plate screw from the offending driver’s license plates,” the claim says. It goes on to point out that Portlanders, especially Black Portlanders, have to wait hours for police to respond to more serious crimes, if a response comes at all. On March 4, 2021, police found video of the incident that did indeed show that the car was a tan Toyota Corolla, which was traced to a woman in Vancouver. Hardesty does not own a tan car, she owns a silver Volvo that is inoperative. The suspect also had short white hair while Hardesty’s hair is longer and black, the notice of claim says. Hardesty’s representation says the report was “based on the false and racist assumption and stereotype that all Black people look the same and that Black people are more likely to engage in criminal activity.”

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/3s1YTm3