A decision by an Oregon District Attorney that hundreds of Portland Protestants will not face claims “is a complete surrender of the criminal justice system,” former Las Vegas police officer Randy Sutton told “Outnumbered Overtime” on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt announced that prosecutors will be dropped against protesters who were arrested and accused of interfering with a peace officer as parole and probation officer; obsessive-compulsive disorder; criminal offense; escape; harassment and rioting, unless they were accompanied by some other charge of physical violence or damage to property.
“The Protestants are angry … and deeply frustrated about what they see as structural inequality in our basic social fabric, and this frustration can escalate to levels that the law shines,” Schmidt said. “This policy recognizes that centuries of different treatment of our blacks [sic] and brown communities have left deep wounds and that the healing process will not be easy or quick. ”
Sutton said Schmidt’s announcement “reads more like a political manifesto than a criminal justice policy … This is a criminal justice system in free fall,” he added.
PORTLAND BANNES FEDERAL LAW WORKING POLICE
Portland has been rocked for months by demonstrations following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police.
Initially, peaceful demonstrations in the city of Oregon regularly turned into chaos, as police and Protestants outside the areas in the north and east of the city, the headquarters of the police union and a building that housed police stations in has downtown.
Asked if Schmidt’s policy gives assailants a free pass, Sutton said: ‘Absolutely it does, in fact insurgency is one of the charges they are not pursuing.
“Meanwhile, we have police officers who have been injured several times in the line of duty, we have individuals trying to set them on fire, and this district attorney is refusing to prosecute,” he continued.
Sutton, who has more than three decades of experience in enforcing legislation, went on to describe the policy as “a slap in the face to the Portland Police Department, which has had all its wings cut by the mayor who” t has called himself police commissioner.
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“Meanwhile, officers are severely wounded in the line of duty, and receive no attention,” he continued.
“We see this district attorney becoming an absolute political beast,” Sutton added. “This is not about justice.”
Fox News’ Vandana Rambaran contributed to this report.
