Todd Pitt

Yesterday evening I was just a normal guy going to get dinner in Portland, when I was returning to my car which was parked at the corner of Hawthorne and 49th I walked into the middle of a heated anti-police protest being carried out by a group of about 30-40 vocal protesters. This is my first hand account citizen witness of the protest incident as it unfolded. Here are links to all of my witness photography of this protest on flickr and all of the videos I shot of the protest on Vimeo.

Prelude to a Random Protest

I was working all day and up into the evening on Tuesday March 23rd on my laptop at cafe on Hawthorne. I drove up and parked my car the the corner of 49th & Hawthorne walked up to the Sapphire Hotel and ordered dinner to go. I got my dinner and walked back down to my car, but as I crossed the street I noticed that something was going down on Hawthorne. A black line of people were silhouetted in the night against a backdrop of red and blue flashing lights, they were advancing towards me. I hopped in my car, set my to-go dinner on the passenger seat and quickly pulled my car off onto the side street parking it there, as I did I could see in the rear view protesters rapidly approaching and heard shouting.

Citizens of Portland, Carry a Camera

I felt in my gut that something important was happening or going to happen. So I grabbed my camera out of my bag, locked my car stepped out to the corner of the street and just started shooting the protest. The protesters turned off of Hawthorne Blvd onto on 49th Street headed into a residential area. I think it is important to say here that I have no knowledge of what occurred with the protest or the police up to this point.

The Protesters Turn onto 49th

There was a lot of police following them marked cars, unmarked cars, motorcycles and officers on foot. I estimated the group of protesters to be about 30-40 in number and they were on foot, skateboards and bicycle. As the group of protesters rounded the corner onto 49th a few of them knocked trash cans and a street sign from the side of Tanker Bar out into the street to block the police cars who were driving very close behind them. At this point I figured out what the protests were about, because I overheard two people who were watching talking about the Police the fatal shooting and of a man with at the Hoyt Arboretum.

Some people came out of the bar to see what happened and one woman commented

“Well that is a good way to get yourself arrested.” – A Bystander

A police officer stepped out of his patrol vehicle and threw the sign from the Tanker back onto the side walk, then resumed following the protesters up 49th Street. You can see this here in Video 1 -

Portland Police Brutality Protest and Assault 1 from Todd Pitt on Vimeo.

Why not just walk to the sidewalk an place the sign back where it belonged? A few Portlanders did put the signs and the trashcans back on the side of the building. At this point I decided to follow the protest, photograph and shoot video of it.

The Second Protest In Two Days

The protesters were chanting angry anti-police slogans like this:

“FU*K THE POLICE! NO JUSTICE NO PEACE!” – The Protesters

“Cops! Pigs! Murders!” – The Protesters

Here you can see, hear the chants and the police ordering the protesters out of the street, threatening that anyone could be arrested and anytime here in Video 2  -

Portland Police Brutality Protest and Assault 2 from Todd Pitt on Vimeo.

Portland Policeman Hits Protester With Motorcycle

This video contains footage of exactly how the anti-police protest escalated. The protesters were walking in the street on 49th/50th Ave, the lead line of police on motorcycles who were following began to rev their motorbike engines accelerating up too close behind the protesters.

Portland Police Brutality Protest and Assault 3 from Todd Pitt on Vimeo.

WATCH FROM 0:30-01:22 TO SEE THE ASSAULTS

Shocked witnesses, concerned citizens, photographers began shouting at the Portland Police -

“Look what you did! Look what you did! I saw you” – witnesses

“Are you going to run people over?” – witness

“You are running people over! Look at you.” – witness

Here is some more footage of the same moments of the assault taken from a different angle by a East Portland KATU news.

A Portland Motorcycle Policeman escalated the situation at the protest to the point of violence by running into a protester with his motorcycle, then a protester retaliated, hurtling his bicycle at and striking the Police Officer. The man who allegedly assaulted the Portland Motorcycle Policeman was named Joel David Dow. He was charged with assault second degree and assaulting a public safety officer, bail was set in the ballpark of $290,000.

The Portland Police Arresting The Suspect

This is the scene of the suspect being arrested for Police Assault in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Southeast Portland.

Another citizen journalist recording the arrest right up close and personal.

The police with big red bottles of mace or pepper spray.

Portland residents watching the event unfold from their front yards and lawns as the PDX Police confer.

March Continued to Police Building On Burnside

The protesters took the march to the police literally. They marched too and stopping right in front of the SE police traffic division building on Burnside. The police set up a perimeter, guarding the station. The protesters rallied around the station Flag, periodically chanting and drumming.

PDX Police in Front of The SE Traffic Division

The Police Glaring At Me

Protesters Camped Out In Front Of The Traffic Division

Protesters Rallying Around The Flag At The Police Division

Marching On As The Police Began To Flank The Protesters

Protesters Marching Away from the Police Building on Burnside

Black Masks, Black Flags

Protesters Marching Down Burnside

More Footage of the Protest

Video 4

Portland Police Brutality Protest and Assault 4 from Todd Pitt on Vimeo.
More footage of protesters and the cops.

Video 5

Portland Police Brutality Protest and Assault 5 from Todd Pitt on Vimeo.
More protesters chanting “Cops, Pigs, Murders!” and lots of police on motorbikes. Three of them circled around me while I was shooting this clip.

Video 6

One observer in this video was singing the star spangled banner, very badly but made his point. Freedom?

“Oh say can you see, by the dawns early light…”

Cops cops more cops and cops with mace canisters. Chanting.

Portland Police Brutality Protest and Assault 6 from Todd Pitt on Vimeo.

Video 7

Portland Police Brutality Protest and Assault 7 from Todd Pitt on Vimeo.

The Police arresting the man who threw his bike at the police officer and neighbors coming out of their houses watching the arrest.

Protest Route Through SE Portland

• East On Hawthorne Blvd (where I encountered the protest)
• Left Turn North on SE 49th Ave, over Belmont Street
• Right Turn East for one block SE Stark Street
• Left Turn North on SE 50th Ave
• Left Turn West on E Burnside Street
• Stopped in front of the SE Portland Police Department.
• Continued West down E Burnside Street down past 44th Ave (discontinued following Protest)

Links to Other Media About The 3/23/2010 Protest

• Heated protest against police shooting erupts
• Emergency Response to another Police Murder
• Police Abuse march for Police Accountability
• Portland Police Abuse Protest for Police Accountability 3/23/10
• Portland man arrested for police assault at shooting protest
• The Portland Mercury Anti-Cop Protest Turns out…

What the Protest Was About

• Portland police shoot and kill transient, spark community protest
• Police release name of man fatally shot by Portland Officer

Disclaimer

I want to make a few things very clear. I was first person witness, a citizen journalist by happenstance and I am not affiliated with any government organization, the cops and was not a part of the protesters or the protest group who organized this event. I just saw what happened. All of the videos and images I took are original and unedited, you can use them but must link to the sources and this post.

In line with all of the changes that have been going down in our lives (pretty much changing every aspect) my family and I are having Un-Thanksgiving today. We are changing things up and making today our own little anti-holiday holiday.

Families should be thankful for each other and everything they do have everyday. There should not be a need for a specific days of the year where we are forced to purchasing or consume useless and unnecessary “stuff” that is not good for us, our community, our country, animals or the environment as acts or proof of familial love. There is nothing intelligent or good about being gluttonous or wasteful. People should not feel the overwhelming need to go through yearly repetitive acts to prove what a great or perfect family you are or have. It is not love. It just does not mean anything of substance and is all very narcissistic.

As a family we do not believe in supporting superficial consumerist holidays invented by greedy marketers that focus on having or eating specific things. Ever been to a turkey farm? Ever bothered to check and see what is done to the turkeys or all of the hormones and steroids put in them? Ever bother to read the history about how Americans decimated and killed the natives who were here long before us who actually took care of this land rather then systematically destroying it? No, most people don’t want to think about the ramifications of their purchasing decisions. No, most people don’t want to think about the realities of history of what humans do to each other.

We have made it a specific point to NOT eat any turkey today. We have made it a point to celebrate, appreciate and love each other in the small everyday ways, through simple actions, small gestures of love and kindness, like hugs + kisses and doing little things that we can do with one another everyday. Sitting and having coffee chatting about geeky things, playing a game of Tetris 2 or Megaman 2, hanging out and listening to good music. These are the little things that matter, they are the things that make a real family. Not gorging yourself on a 25 lb preservative ridden sick turkey, not wolfing HFC laced cranberries from a can, not sitting and smiling like a fake at family members who you don’t want to be around, not having to house hop from divorced parents house to divorced parents house in order to make everyone else happy…except for you. Stop doing things that make you unhappy & concentrate on living a meaningful existence everyday. And if your family can’t understand that…oh well.

Six Ideas to Avoid Living Superficial Lives on “Holidays”

• Send people cards (recycled or electronic) out of the blue randomly when you are feeling appreciative of them, NOT on holidays.
• Commit consistent non-random acts of kindness everyday, hold the door for someone, call a friend and tell them you love em, help someone out when you see the opportunity because you CAN because it is who you ARE.
• Eat something that is healthy for a change, turn the product over and read the label, buy something in a smaller quantity that is higher quality.
• Use your imagination to make up your own holidays, don’t wait for some uncreative marketing DB to make one up for you.
• Don’t buy something useless or disposable, instead take the time to create something beautiful for someone else whom you care about.
• Don’t bend to the will of others or buy into pressures from family to participate in consumerist culture, instead create your own culture one that nurtures you and those who you love.

I ventured out tonight to the Hawthorne Theatre my first concert since I moved to PDX. I defiantly needed a night off to just go get lost in the music. Interestingly enough, I first heard of a little band (no so little anymore) called Lights when I was surfing through the “other/indie” music categories on MySpace, which I do from time to time if I am looking for something new, unusual, rising or random.

Lights I

The opening band for lights was Stars of Track & Field, they were pretty good. I liked their stuff but did not have a chance to pick up their album, I guess the chick @ the merch table was back stage or something when I swung by between a few Widmers & Hawthorne ales.

Lights II

I liked the Venue a lot, it was very chill & low key. The price of the tickets were really reasonable & a nice change from the frequently prohibitive price gouging that used to happen back in DC.  The Portlanders were nice, amiable & it was a diverse mix of people.  The club was split into a over 21 (in the back) / all ages up front.  It was a layout I had never seen before, what can I say the joint was interesting overall.

Lights III

I think of all the photos I took Lights III (above is my abso-fav). Lights was a good live show, even if it was their second time coming back through pdx they still rocked it. The band has been touring for the last year & a half, so lights confessed that she was pretty tired but still hyped up to be back in Portland. Guess this was the second to last tour date before getting back home to Toronto.

Lights played everything I wanted to hear plus they covered two great Phil Collins songs, which clearly she loved. Halfway through the show, in between songs a teen / fan from MySpace gave Lights a block of cheese. Of course, she was gracious & accepted the legendary cracker topping with a smile. Apparently there was some kind of social network cheese meme bouncing around the web the past couple months…tasty!!!

Oh yeah I almost forgot the drummer for Lights rocked!!! Honestly I was expecting a drum machine, but was delightfully surprised by an *ANIMAL* beast wailer.

Lights & Todd

When I got to meet Lights after the show, I simply told her the truth:

“I love your music, it makes me happy when I am really sad.”

She beamed & gave me a really big hug. You know most rock stars…they are normal people like everyone else. Lights has over 11 Million profile views on MySpace for a reason, good stuff, positive, beautiful voice, emotive, original sound. My daughter Immi loves Lights like crazy & always wants us to play the album over & over again.

Todd’s top recommend tracks off of “The Listening” are:

1. River
2. Lions
3. The Last Thing On Your Mind
4. Face up

I made it out to my first show of 2009 with Kyoko & Junko on Tuesday.  It has been way too long since we have seen a good one. Here is my DM5 Live minimalist recap:

• Badass show rated 9/10
• Danced for two hours
• DeadMau5 music makes people happy & want to dance
• The crowd was tame & very diverse
• Played all of his hot songs, live stuff & songs I have not heard
• I would go see DM5 again fo sho

Deadmau5 in Washington DC – 4/7/09 (Part 1)

Deadmau5 in Washington DC – 4/7/09 (Part 2)

Deadmau5 in Washington DC – 4/7/09 (Encore)

If you get a chance to go see DeadMau5, go & bring a friend.

This is a cool 8 bit music video called “Starlight” by a Japanese 8 bit band called YMCK that you should check out.

I saw YMCK perform live with my friends Alexis and John at the Japan! Culture + Hyper Culture 2008 festival in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center.  It would be great to see them at a smaller venue where I could get up closer to the stage.

So yeah I think that the title of this blog posting says it all…

There was come decent commentary on iPhone Savior with some supporting articles on ABC and the NY Daily News.  Since I am not a fan of rehashing check out the above links for more commentary and watch these two videos:

And another Walmart customer may have lost her baby because of this incident which makes me very sad (speaking from the father perspective):

Some open questions about this event:

1. Is Walmart liable for not providing enough security to protect its own employees and patrons?
2. Can Walmart even be legally charged & what is the legal precedence for this in regards to corporations?
3. Can a mob of people even be legally prosecuted for this crime?
4. How can events like this be prevented in the future, given Walmart has no crystal ball?
5. Should it so how much should the family of the victims receive?
6. How can we change the culture that encourages or allows for this kind of behavior?

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment, link to sources if you have facts.

Regardless of your party or political beliefs, everybody should go vote today! Given everything that’s going on in the world and more specifically with our country…today is one of the most important days in this decade and I would argue one of the most important days for the future of the American people.

Urgency is what motivates people to create lasting change. There is no time when we as citizens should feel more urgency to vote then today November 4, 2008. Regardless of how disenfranchised you are with the governmental system or disappointed in the two political party system that we have had for the better part of a hundred years, we must vote in order to make a lasting change and vote against the same failed and farcical policies that have dug us into a hole.

We need to change in order to evolve our country and our political system with grassroots efforts from the people, for the people and by the people. How this happens is person by person and vote by vote. SO GO VOTE!!!