Wrongful Death Civil Rights?

[bigdaddy6939]

Mo form Oregon. Rmet: You are right on track with trying to make sense of what I obviously didn’t write very clearly. I apologize. It is hard to write what you think would be pertinent when you have all this information you don’t know where to start. In the officer’s report, he states, “ I was directly behind the motorcycle and saw that we were doing about 45-55 MPH. As the motorcycle began to pull away from me I saw a flash from the tailpipe and heard a loud “pop’ sound as it apparently backfired. I activated my emergency overhead lights and the motorcycle immediately pulled to the right-hand side of the road and stopped. I pulled up along side of the motorcycle and rolled down my passenger window. I yelled at the driver, who I could tell was a male. I told the driver to follow me and motioned with my right hand in a forward manner”. Officer is now at the top of the hill running plates on the two bikes that were waiting for the third bike. Officer’s report, “ I asked both drivers what they were doing and they told me that they were just going for a ride. I asked them how fast they were going and Wilson told me he thought they were going about sixty (60) MPH. Wilson stated that all of them had met up at the Tanasbourne Starbucks and decided to go for a ride. I asked them where the third rider went and they told me they were stopping to wait for him. I gave both drivers a warning and they asked me how to get to the Hillsboro Airport. I explained the directions to them and cleared at about 0125 hours. I did not detect any signs of alcohol impairment on any of the people I contacted. While I was on the traffic stop I looked for the third motorcycle, but it never passed by my location. At about 0127 hours, I headed southbound on Cornelius Pass Road and saw a Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue (TVFR) engine stopped on the west side of the road just north of Kaiser Road. I stopped and was advised that a motorcycle had crashed and both occupants were deceased. The two motorcycles that I had stopped pulled up a short time later. I talked with them who advised me that the two people on the motorcycle that crashed had been with them at the Starbucks for the last two hours. I was relieved by a reserve officer per Sergeant Kelley and cleared the scene”.

We have statements from both drivers and passengers of the other bikes, which were conducted separately, and each person said the officer never gave them a warning, but instead talked to them about the Airport being a good place for them to ride and other places for them to ride their bikes. The two passengers also, stated they could hear the fire engines and saw one pass by them. One passenger gave statements that a truck had pulled up and said “ hey, did you have a friend with you, there was an accident down the road”. The drivers of the bikes didn’t hear this as the officer was talking with them.

Speed Calculations: All heights were taken from the roadway as zero. The heights are adjusted for the mathematical formula.
Distance- 60 ft.
Height of ramp- 1.6 ft.
Height of tree impact- 5.9 ft.
Angle of take off in degrees- 47.4 degrees
Motorcycle center of mass from the rear wheel 2 ft.
Three speed calculations using the vault equation: speed#1- 35.45 MPH, speed#2 -31.25 MPH, speed #3- 47.89 MPH. There is an undetermined speed loss during 115 ft.

Nobody checked to see what gear the bike was in, that is something I think would have helped.

You are very correct on trying to sue a government agency. It is not an easy task. The mini van came into the picture as a possibility when I took the photos of the van and saw paint what I would conclude to be from the bike. We needed to look at that aspect too. The van driver was interviewed, but he is very slow mentally. He too, has changed his account of that night several times. Both the van driver and the officer live in the same very small town and are about the same age. We don’t know if there is a connection. We only know that the kids didn’t fly through the air some 60 feet from ground zero, hit several trees and the driver was still holding the handlebars with the bike on his chest. I have pictures of the bike, the back of the bike was suffered most of the damage, there really isn’t much damage to the bike other then the rear end.

The police press release given was that the kids were out at several parties that night and they had tried to elude the officer. This was plastered on every TV station, newspaper, and website in Oregon. The police had already been made aware that the kids were only out drinking coffee. The coroner’s report was given the same statement from the police, that the kids had been out to several parties. When I asked the coroner where he got this info he told me it came from the police. Well, much to their dismay, the kids did not have any drugs or alcohol in their system. Interesting, this press release showed up on the police department website but it has since been deleted. In fact, the website has no record of the accident at all. All other press releases, accidents and so forth are still there for that date. To the person that tells me to get on with my life, I know you are just trying to help but, try having to explain to everyone, every day of your life that your child was not out drinking at parties and eluding police, and you know they are thinking that these kids were doing something wrong and deserved what they got. You don’t just go on with your life, what life, your child is your life. If things were clear and there weren’t so many missing pieces, then I could get on with my grieving. If I don’t find the answers then what justice have I done for my child? Maybe some laws need to be changed, maybe there is something that can be done so this doesn’t happen to another family. If the kids had just wrecked the bike on their own, without the officer’s involvement, it would be clear. But did he hit them, did he cause them to get hit by the van because of his interruption in their life. Why didn’t the crash team look at the mini van that night to see if there was damage? I have one report that states: CAR VS M/C,// DOUBLE FATALITY. C5 NOTIFIED VIA 10-21, DISPOSITION CODE: W8 Arrest/investigation made by another officer. If the officer heard the bike backfire, and was concerned for their safety why wouldn’t he have instead followed behind them? If the officer wanted to catch the other bikes, what was his thought process? Did he think the first bike was going to follow him to wherever the other bikes were going? The officer didn’t know the two other bikes were going to be stopped at the top of the hill at a four-way intersection, how would he conclude that? I am just not getting that part of the picture.

Thank you for your insight, Mo.

 

[CdwJava]

Okay, I STILL fail to see how the officer can be accountable for something that did not happen in his presence. All the other questions as to why the officer did what he did still don't make him responsible for the collision.

Even (assuming) if the officer was out of his jurisdiction, fudged contact times and statements, and was incompetent - how does any of that make himm responsible for the collision in this set of circumstances?

Unless you are alleging that he HIT the motorcycle, I do not see where there can possibly be a lawsuit against the officer or the agency. Failure to find a suspect - even a failure to investigate - are not actionable offenses.

While I empathize with your loss, and I can understand your frustration at the matter not being solved yet, I don't see that it will do you any good at all to expend resources suing a party that cannot possibly be found liable given the pattern you have articulated here.

- Carl

 

[rmet4nzkx]

In CA I don't think that a lawsuit could even be brought against the police for losing the suspect and the evidence in the situation you describe. Incompetence or dumb (bad) luck is not generally actionable, so I don't think in this state such a suit against the police would even get to court - at least not for the knife and the escaping suspect.

And I have had mixed opinions on failure to render aid. Unless the failure to render first aid resulted in the death, I don't think that would be actionable either. But, this might depend a grat deal on the laws of the particular state involved. I know that if there were lots of free-flowing blood, unless I had access to adequate gloves and necessary protection, I wouldn't be too inclined to risk disease and God knows what else by slapping my unrpotected hand over a stranger's wound.

As you said, civil cases agaisnt the police - or any government entity - are difficult. Yet it doesn't prevent cities and counties in California from literally paying out MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of dollars each year in "go away" settlements.

- Carl

Carl,
Sorry I didn't catch your response the other day. This case DID take place in CA more than a decade ago and is why it couldn't be brought today, not because there is no cause of action but ibelieve because there has been legislative action taken to limit these matters. While I know in intimate detail the facts relating to the events, I am not privy to the details of the legal procedings other than relayed by the newspapers and the parents. This PD had/has a history of questionable policies re youth, in most cases if the vistim is a teenager and the perp an adult, they will not cite the adult. In other cases they will not do anything to investigate the crime.

In this case, they expected violence, had muliple squads there, waiting, wanted to cite for MIP and were present observing when the first victim was ambushed. They did nothing. Then nothing as the stabbing victim came to the aid of his brother, only after the second victim lay in the street did they finally do anything and not to well at that.

There was not a lot of blood, 1 stab wound to the chest, a lucky jab, it got the Aorta, but most of the bleeding was internal. The first victim, due to facial injuries from being pummeled with the shovel was bloody, the police forgot about him and he was transported by the person giving first aid. They failed to call an ambulance until the person giving first aid, when the police failed to give aid, asked when they were going to call an Ambulance. Would CPR have helped with the victim, I doubt it would have saved them, but getting them to the hospital quickly might have. Witnessing the entire event, having the murder weapon and the perp in the squad car and failing to lock the door, was why neither suit was successful.

Why was there so much harassment of the families of the youths involved? This involved repeatedly, pulling over cars registered to families of youths connected with the event. My older son who was not present at the party, was pulled over 5 times in my car, I was not pulled over because I was driving my FIL's car at the time, parents of other witnesses were likewise harassed and this harassment was so bad that in the community action meetings that followed, the police harassment was brought up. BTW, 1 year later, the intended victim, comitted suicide.

Nothing is going to bring back Mo's daughter, the fact that there were what appear to be intentionally slanderous and false news briefs issued, then deleted without retraction and even giving false information to the coroner, when the officers report doesn't indicate anything other than coffee consumption, seem to suggest coverup, would seem actionable and far easier to prove than wrongful death. The whole minivan thing is still unclear, who hit the motorcycle?

 

[bigdaddy6939]

Okay, we still believe the officer had a hand in this accident. But it will take an act of God or a confession to prove. So what kind of slander case do we have, if any? We have the Coroner reports, TV station videos, newspapers, website reports, a statement from the administrator of the funeral home saying he was told the same story from the police department. What else do we need? Let me guess that we can’t sue the police department for that either. A character assassination is not plausible, because they are dead? Everything does lead us to believe there may have been a cover-up. A friend of mine is a PI, he looked at the reports and is concerned there was a conflict of interest during some of the investigation process. I won’t say anything more about that at this time. Getting back to slander and/or defamation of character, what is your take on this? I would like to thank Carl and rmet. You have taken your time to help us sort this out, and your input is very informative. Thank you, Mo

 

[rmet4nzkx]

Call attorneys in Portland and see if you can find anyone interested in your case, I'm not sure the statute of limitations but I would think you don't have much time, although your grief might be a factor and if there was intentional misinformation or fraud that may toll it. The statute seems in general to be 2 years with allowances for date of discovery of the fraud. You might ask a question re these aspects on the CONSUMER & GENERAL PRACTICE LAW
Libel / Slander / Defamation board, be sure to provide the facts showing the false informaiton by the police department. Do you have a copy of the accident information on the police website that was removed? Keep us updated as you call and consult with attorney's. You consulted with a personal injury attorney but have they actually filed a lawsuit? If they have too much turn over in their firm, you need another firm ASAP.