The law-abiding residents of Portland, Oregon, are now at the mercy of leftist demonstrators after the city went after a police officer for doing his job this week — and that led the city’s team of anti-riot cops to resign and disband.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that Portland Police Bureau Officer Corey Budworth was indicted this week on a charge of fourth-degree assault relating to an Aug. 18 incident in which he struck an alleged rioter with a baton.
Leftist Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt, the man who spent last year freeing rioters, charged Budworth on Tuesday.
Today, Multnomah County @DAMikeSchmidt announced that a grand jury indicted Portland Police Officer Corey Budworth with one count of Assault in the Fourth Degree for alleged criminal conduct that occurred during a protest in August of 2020. https://t.co/iUoe4uqUzf pic.twitter.com/owYOdkAYZq
— Multnomah County DA's Office (@MultCoDA) June 15, 2021
“In this case, we allege that no legal justification existed for Officer Budworth’s deployment of force, and that the deployment of force was legally excessive under the circumstances,” Schmidt said in a statement.
“My office will continue to do everything we can to ensure justice is done without error or delay and that we make sure our work and practices are rooted in fairness and equity,” he said.
Schmidt, despite having no shortage of actual criminals to go after, pursued Budworth, who was working as a member of the police bureau’s all-volunteer Rapid Response Team during last summer’s incident.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reported the officer with the baton in the following Twitter video is Budworth:
Cop 37 shoves woman hitting her from behind in the head with baton, then hits her again in the face with baton while she is sitting on the ground pic.twitter.com/t4phwbWpsK
— John #FreePalestine (@Johnnthelefty) August 19, 2020
Budworth was found to have done nothing wrong by his superiors, given the circumstances.
If Schmidt’s true desire is to transform Portland into a dystopian hell hole with no order, he’s helped to accomplish that.
The DA had already charged an officer with nearly three decades on the force last year over actions taken while doing his job.
“Officer Scott Groshong was working undercover at a protest in June when he observed people breaking into a store downtown. Video shows the van Groshong was driving accelerating toward a man running from the store before knocking him to the ground,” OPB reported.
Groshong, Budworth and indeed all other city police officers have been branded as villains by left-wing agitators and the public officials who support them over the last year when attempting to protect life and property from a Marxist rebellion.
There is no other way to describe those who almost nightly disturb the peace of that once-great city, other than revolting Marxist activists.
Portland, by the way, is less safe now after the entire Rapid Response Team decided to disband on Wednesday.
Those officers, who used their own time and crucial crowd control training skills to suppress a violent element seeking to upend society, cited Budworth’s charges for their decision to walk away.
Portland Police Association Executive Director Daryl Turner told KXL-FM that the city’s decision to go after cops was a “witch hunt.”
Police in the city said in a news release that the now-former Rapid Response Team officers will return to normal duty rather than continuing to fight a war they can’t win alone.
Press Release: Portland Police Rapid Response Team Members Leave Team, Remain In Primary Roles As Employees
Link: https://t.co/UZ5C9xKkFZ pic.twitter.com/21VE4P7d5D— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) June 17, 2021
“On June 16, 2021, Portland Police Bureau employees serving as members of the Rapid Response Team (RRT) left their voluntary positions and no longer comprise a team. Its members were sworn employees of the Portland Police who served on RRT in addition to their daily assignment in the Bureau,” the department noted. “Despite no longer serving on RRT, they will continue in their regular assignments. There were approximately 50 employees serving as RRT members.
“The Rapid Response Team is an all-hazard incident response team that has received advanced specialized training to respond to incidents requiring higher levels of technical expertise including public order policing, natural or man-made disasters. The primary role has been to provide public safety at crowd events when there was a threat of harm to the community.
“All Rapid Response Team members are trained in advanced skills related to crowd management and crowd control including crowd psychology and behavior, team formations and movements, the use of enhanced personal protective equipment, use of force, de-escalation and arrests.”
Portland is a city that has been under siege now for more than a year now by antifa rioters, looters, arsonists and killers. Rather than supporting those trying to keep the situation manageable, Schmidt and other Democrats have begun going after cops.
These cops saved countless lives and businesses over the course of a year, only to find themselves — two of them, anyway — the ones on trial. We should thank them for their commitment to public service while simultaneously appreciating their decision to walk away — lest they be found next in Schmidt’s crosshairs.
Portlanders should live alongside the lawless bands of criminals they have helped embolden through their voting habits. They asked for the coming unchecked riots by refusing to embrace rational leaders when casting ballots.
Not since the Rajneesh movement has Oregon seen so much concentrated insanity and radicalism.
Sadly, today’s radicalism is concentrated not in Rajneeshpuram or Wasco County, but in Portland.
We can blame Schmidt, Mayor Ted Wheeler and others, but this is on the people who elected them to handle antifa militants with kid gloves.
