The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Portland Police defended the use of rubber bullets during the demonstration against President Bush’s visit Thursday, saying officers fired them at specific people committing crimes in compliance with police policy to protect officers in danger.
Yet one type of munition is designed to hit the ground, bounce and strike several people to move a crowd -- an apparent contradiction to the bureau’s own recommendation on less-lethal force after the May Day 2000 riots.
“No less-lethal use of force is used to disperse crowds or is deployed at a crowd,” the recommendation states.
Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker and Assistant Chief Greg Clark, the incident commander during Bush’s appearance at a Republican fund-raiser at the Hilton Portland, dismissed much of the criticism Friday. They commended the bureau and the four assisting police agencies for helping them achieve their goal of protecting the president without serious injury or property damage.
“When we’re dealing with a presidential visit, we have to draw very definite lines, and if people cross them, we have to react,” Clark said.
Clark said police fired the rubber munitions, which he described as more accurate than beanbag shots, to protect officers in a car protesters were hammering with signs.
Two Portland officers fired rubber sting-ball rounds from 37 mm single-shot guns at the people who had leaped onto the car, their police reports said. A third officer fired a rubber baton, or projectile, from a Sage gun at a protester who was about to hurl a cylindrical object at police, the report said.
The rubber sting-balls are generally fired at the ground, then bounce in a skip-shot and can strike several people during their flight, officers said. The Sage gun projectiles are considered target-specific. Police are instructed not to fire a Sage gun at a target less than 10 feet away; no minimum is set for the sting-ball shots.
“They followed the rules of engagement,” Clark said. “It was an officer rescue. Those were not used for crowd dispersal.”