The results are not surprising. Multnomah DA Mike Schmidt pledged, near the beginning of the unrest, that his office would drop “lesser charges that the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) often arrests protesters for, such as rioting, disorderly conduct, and ‘interfering with a peace officer’—a catch-all term for not following orders or bothering a cop,” according to the Portland Mercury. In that statement, Schmidt noted that his office’s policy would be retroactive to May 29th, when Portland PD began arresting demonstrators.
“If we leverage the full force of the criminal justice system on individuals who are peacefully protesting and demanding to be heard, we will cause irreparable harm to them individually and to our society,” he said. “The prosecution of people exercising their rights to free speech and assembly in a non-violent manner takes away from the limited resources that we have to prosecute serious crimes and to assist crime victims.”
And those arrested where the “mostly peaceful” protesters.
What a criminal!
Hope federal charges still happen as this soy-boy refuses to do his job.
.
