Eugene police

Local activist and videographer Tim Lewis has posted video and stills of Eugene police tasering a protester at a May 30 rally downtown against pesticides.

Citizens have organized two gatherings in support of the “Kesey Three” arrested at the rally in front of the author’s statue.

The first is planned for Thursday, June 5 from 12-3 pm at the UO’s EMU Amphitheater.

The second is a “silent” event planned for Saturday, June 7 in Kesey Square at Willamette and Broadway at 12 noon. “Many will have an ‘X’ painted over their mouths or will be wearing tape over their mouths as a statement of how the police are trying to silence free speech with their violence,” an email announcement states.

The events are organized by Crazy People for Wild Places , a UO student group. The group is gathering photos and media links about the taser incident here .

With Jim Torrey running for mayor again, local videographer Tim Lewis has posted a reminder on YouTube of what it was like under Torrey. The video features dramatic footage of the June 1st incident in 1997 in which Eugene police emptied every can of pepper spray they had on non-violent tree sitters standing in the way of the Broadway Place project downtown.

For more information on the event, here's a link to EW's coverage of its 5th-year anniversary:

The city settled a lawsuit by some of the protesters for $30,000 and reduced somewhat the use of pepper spray on non-violent demonstrators. But the city and EPD never apologized or admitted that they did anything wrong. Now EPD is armed with tasers with no ban on using them against demonstrators.

Lewis has also published other videos on YouTube and plans to do more. Search the site for "picture Eugene."

Eugene Police Auditor Cristina Beamud announced today that a Eugene police sergeant had accused her of the crime of official misconduct, that the police chief had referred the matter to the district attorney and that the district attorney was investigating.

At a press conference, Beamud issued a statement: "On February 4 a police sergeant submitted a memorandum on city letterhead accusing me of official misconduct. This memorandum was directed to the City Council. The City Council supervises me and I account to them. However, the correspondence was also directed to the Chief of Police. The Chief directed the allegations to the District Attorney and the District Attorney is investigating the matter."

Beamud said she did "not want to discuss the factual details underlying these allegations for fear of compromising or influencing the investigation."

Beamud’s statement continues:

"I would like the public to know at this time that I fully intend to cooperate with this investigation. I deeply believe that public officials must fully account for their actions and I am confident that the process and the investigation will not reveal any wrongdoing on my part. I do not want this to obstruct the important work that I have to perform and I am concerned that these allegations may serve to disguise the bigger issue — that is the establishment of a viable, transparent system of police oversight."

Mayor Kitty Piercy said at the press conference:

"I applaud the auditor’s commitment to transparency and accountability, and her absolute confidence that she can go through this, whatever process the DA puts in place, and come out the other side with clear evidence that she’s doing a good job. In my case, I’ve seen the accusations and there’s not enough specifics in them to indicate to me in any way that any wrong-doing has been done."