What Happened to Lukus Glenn

What’s the cost of deadly force?

2008-09-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

From the Portland Tribune, September 19 2008

Washington County has no plans to build up its casualty fund even with two wrongful death lawsuits filed in federal court

How much will three deaths at the hands of sheriff’s deputies cost Washington County? And can the county afford it?

Ultimately, it could be up to a jury to decide.

Today, Washington County has two deputy-involved wrongful death suits filed against it in federal court – for the shooting deaths of Lukus Glenn in September 2006 and Jordan Case in October 2006.

And the family of Shane Grundmeyer, a man shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies on Feb. 16 of this year, submitted a tort claim letter in April notifying the county of their intentions to sue.

So far the Glenn lawsuit is the only one that has attached a monetary value to its claims – two claims for relief, each for $7 million.

The last wrongful death suit filed against a Washington County Sheriff’s deputy was in 2001. A federal jury threw out the $10 million lawsuit filed by the family of Rodney Ray Layman, who was shot and killed by a deputy during a traffic stop.

But how would Washington County handle a wrongful death suit if it had to pay?

Up until last year, the county had operated as a completely self-funded insurer for liability claims. It maintains what is called a casualty fund. Instead of paying premiums for insurance to an outside company, the county pays into its own fund which is used to pay on general liability claims.

The county currently has about $2,268,179 in its casualty fund.

That number seems insufficient when compared to the $14 million relief claims being sought by the Glenns. But County Risk Manager Sara Stevenson said the county has no plans to increase the fund even with some possible multi-million lawsuits on the horizon.

Stevenson said she is confident in the actuarial studies done every two years that inform the county how much to put in a casualty fund in order to keep pace with complaints and claims.

“It assumes the future will follow the past,” Stevenson said.

And in the past, the county’s done well at keeping its claims and payments down.

In 2006-2007, the county’s casualty fund paid out just under $194,000 for liability claims. Last fiscal year it paid out $46,000, but Stevenson expects that number to go up as the county settles some claims. During fiscal year 2007/2008, the county had 135 tort claims filed against it. Four of those resulted in lawsuits.

Last October, the county began purchasing excess liability insurance after an appellate court ruled that tort claim caps even for public entities were unconstitutional. In the case of a large suit, the county would only be liable for the first $1 million. Stevenson likened it to how a deductible works for car insurance.

Unfortunately, the new insurance doesn’t apply to incidents that happened before Oct. 1, 2007, and wouldn’t pay in the cases of Glenn and Case. If the county were slapped with a multi-million dollar court decision, it could look at a structured settlement, Stevenson said.

As with any claim, Stevenson said her office investigates the claims for any negligence on the part of the county. While all three shootings were cleared of criminal wrong doing by the district attorney’s office, Stevenson said her office does another investigation for civil lawsuits.

And if her office finds any negligence on the part of the county, it tries to settle.

In each of the three deputy-involved cases, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office called the shootings “justified.”

And in each case, the men were under the influence when they encountered Washington County sheriff’s deputies. Lukus Glenn had a blood alcohol content level of .18 at the time of his death. Case had been ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms. And Grundmeyer, according to a toxicology report, had a substantial amount of methamphetamine in his blood at the time of the shooting.

The Case lawsuit – which names Washington County and the cities of Tualatin and Sherwood as well as the officers and deputy involved– has a tentative November 2009 jury trial date.

Agencies named in the Glenn shooting lawsuit, including the city of Tigard, Washington County and the officer and deputies involved, have not yet filed their answers to the lawsuit allegations.

Grundmeyer’s family has reportedly switched lawyers, and John McVea, who represented the family for the tort claim letter, said he’s unsure if they have retained new counsel yet or not.

• LUKUS GLENN

Hit with: eight bullets

The call: On Sept. 16 2006, Washington County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call in Metzger involving a male subject armed with a knife.

The outcome: Deputies fired eight rounds into 18-year-old Glenn as he, according to police, tried to run back into his home.

The family’s claims: Among 12 failures listed by the Glenn family one says Washington County and Tigard failed to properly train law enforcement in management, detention and arrest of persons suffering from mental impairments.

• JORDAN CASE

Hit with: four bullets

The call: On Oct. 21, 2006, a Tualatin woman called 9-1-1 to report an intruder in her apartment.

The outcome: A deputy shot 20-year-old Case three times in the chest as he opened the door to a running patrol car. After another attempt to enter the vehicle, Case was shot in the head.

The family’s claim: Echoes the Glenn family claims that the county and cities of Sherwood and Tualatin didn’t provide adequate training for management, detention and arrest of people suffering mental impairments.

• SHANE GRUNDMEYER

Hit with: two bullets

The call: On Feb. 16, 2008, two deputies devised a plan to intercept 39-year-old Grundmeyer in Aloha. He was wanted on a felony warrant.

The outcome: Deputies shot and killed Grundmeyer as he, according to the deputies, rammed two patrol vehicles with his BMW in an attempt to elude law enforcement.

The family’s claims: According to the tort claim letter, “force was used in the stop resulting in Grundmeyer’s death.”

Parents of Tigard teen shot by police file lawsuit

2008-08-14T07:01:00.001-07:00

The Mental Health Association of Portland has followed the what happened to Lukus Glenn since 2006 on our web site - What Happened to Lukus Glenn.

The family of an 18-year-old Tigard man shot to death by police during a domestic disturbance in 2006 filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday against the county, city and officers involved.

Hope Glenn, the mother of Lukus Glenn, filed the suit against Washington County, the two deputies who shot her son, the city of Tigard and a Tigard police officer.

There are two claims for relief in the lawsuit. Each seeks more than $7 million.

"We were forced to go ahead and file this to shed light on the events of that night," Hope Glenn said. "It's all been very hard and it just gets worse not better."

Spokesmen for the Washington County Sheriff's Office and the Tigard Police Department declined to comment on the lawsuit.

A Washington County district attorney's office investigation into the shooting, completed in October 2006, called the incident "tragic" but "legally justified." The probe ultimately rejected Hope Glenn's call for a public review of the shooting.

The incident began about 3 a.m. Sept. 16, 2006, when Hope Glenn called 9-1-1 from her Tigard residence, saying her son was drunk, out of control and threatening the family. Three officers arrived minutes later to find Lukus Glenn outside his house holding a knife.

When Glenn refused to drop the weapon, Tigard police Officer Andrew Pastore shot him with nonlethal beanbags. As Glenn turned and moved back toward his house, where his family members were, Washington County sheriff's Deputies Mikhail Gerba and Tim Mateski opened fire with their service weapons, killing him.

An autopsy showed that two of the eight bullets that struck Glenn inflicted fatal injuries by severing large pelvic arteries. Nonfatal shots also struck Glenn in the legs, buttocks, lower back and right shoulder.

A medical examiner's report found that Glenn, a former high school soccer and football star, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.18 at the time of his death. Oregon's legal limit for driving is 0.08.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by Lake Oswego attorney Lawrence K. Peterson, says official accounts of the Sept. 16, 2006, shooting contained "glaring inconsistencies and self-contradictions that were never resolved."

The official account of the shooting, for instance, said the beanbag rounds fired at Glenn had no effect and he continued to "act out" after they were shot. The lawsuit says, however, that an audio record of the events shows the lethal fire was discharged almost simultaneously to the beanbags.

The officers' failure to use appropriate crisis intervention techniques, to engage Glenn in conversation rather than relying on yelled commands and to use the beanbag shotgun in a manner that moved Glenn toward the doors of his residence, among other factors, all contributed to his death, according to the lawsuit.

RIP Lukus Glenn

EXTRA - From AP.com, August 13 2008
EXTRA - For all previous stories about what happened to Lukus Glenn from the Oregonian CLICK HERE.
EXTRA - Lukus Glenn family files wrongful death suit, Tigard Times August 13 2008
EXTRA - Myspace - group memorial for Lukus David Glenn

Plan addresses police-shooting investigations

2008-01-31T09:09:00.000-08:00

From The Oregonian

Deadly force - A law seeking inquiry fairness prompted Washington County's proposal

Washington County is the first jurisdiction in the metro area to develop a plan for investigating police shootings under a new law passed by the 2007 Oregon Legislature.

Though Multnomah and Clackamas counties aren't far behind, Washington County's plan will be the subject of a public hearing next week in Hillsboro.

The plan was written to satisfy Senate Bill 111, which was passed by the 2007 Legislature at the request of Attorney General Hardy Myers. The bill directs counties to develop plans in hopes of bringing uniformity and fairness to the processes set in motion by a police shooting.

"Really, we already do this in Washington County," said Sgt. David Thompson, Washington County Sheriff's Office spokesman. "Our deadly-force cases are turned over to the Major Crimes Unit, which includes police from all the cities. This way, investigations can be as transparent and impartial as possible."

Lane County was the first to adopt its plan and submit it to the attorney general's office, as required by law.

In recent years, critics have charged that investigations into police use of deadly force have been tainted.

In 2003, critics charged that officers were allowed to confer before they were questioned about the fatal shooting of Kendra James by Portland police. In that case, an officer partially entered a car James was driving, then tried to pull her from the driver's seat as she put the car in gear. Officers then shot James, testifying that they feared for their lives. They were legally cleared of wrongdoing.

In 2004, critics alleged racism when Portland police shot and killed James Jahar Perez after he resisted officers' attempts to remove him from a car for not having a driver's license. Police testified that they saw Perez pull a clenched fist from his pocket and thought he was drawing a gun. A public inquest cleared police of criminal wrongdoing, but a civil lawsuit against police is proceeding in federal court.

In 2006, the fatal shooting of Lukus Glenn, an 18-year-old former Tigard High football star, by Washington County deputies raised more questions. Although an investigation upheld the shooting, Glenn's family has unsuccessfully pressed for an inquest and has threatened to file a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the attorney general's office launched a study of how deadly-force cases are handled, then wrote the bill that was filed in the 2007 Legislature. Testifying before the Oregon Senate, Myers said more uniformity in post-shooting investigations would help allay fears by the public and ensure fairness to the police and victims.

Washington County's proposed plan calls for:

Requiring training for police in the use of deadly force, including annual seminars.

Providing mental health counseling and support for police involved in shootings.

Requiring at least one police officer from a different agency to investigate the shooting.

Notifying the district attorney's office, which will have discretion over how to proceed.

Requiring investigators to debrief officers and then determine whether police followed the deadly-force policies or whether the policies themselves should be amended.

Meeting annually to evaluate whether the plan needs revisions.

What Happened to Lukus Glenn

2007-08-01T22:56:00.000-07:00

Lukus Glenn was shot and killed by Washington County Sheriff deputies Mikhail Gerba and Tim Mateski in 2006 at his home.

Over the next few months we will create a complete site of all articles and documents publicly available about what happened to Lukus Glenn.

When the site is finished, you will can learn what happened to Lukas Glenn at our web site - What Happened to Lukus Glenn.

This site is created and presented by the Mental Health Association of Portland.

Teen's death spurs Washington County Sheriff change

2007-04-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, Dana Tims

Glenn: Sheriff doubts Tasers would have helped

The police shooting death last September of an angry, drunken teenager near Tigard is triggering changes in how the Washington County Sheriff's Office responds to crises involving distraught people.

Annual crisis intervention training, formerly voluntary, will be mandatory; Tasers, previously carried only by some deputies, will be issued to all uniformed deputies; and longer-range, nonlethal weapons are being tested, the sheriff's office said Thursday.

In a key finding of the department's exhaustive review of the death of 18-year-old Lukus Glenn, officials determined that the two county sheriff's deputies who fired the fatal shots acted appropriately and that none of the changes being enacted now would have made a difference.

"Mr. Glenn's intoxication and anger toward his family were proximate causes in this tragedy," said Pat Garrett, the department's chief deputy.

Attorneys representing Glenn's family welcomed the changes but challenged officials' version of the Sept. 16 shooting. "We've got some revisionist history at work here," Lake Oswego attorney Larry Peterson said.

For instance, Peterson said, the final review states the officers were farther away from Glenn than what they and witnesses said in the days after the shooting. Peterson has claimed that the officers were close enough to use Tasers. Tigard police Officer Andrew Pastore, called to the scene because he carried a nonlethal beanbag shotgun, was 27 feet from Glenn, according to the final review, but witnesses had placed him at 15 feet.

Peterson, acting on the family's behalf, has called for a public inquest and in the past month filed notice of intent to sue Washington County, the city of Tigard and the officers involved.

Among changes announced Thursday were that all patrol deputies will be equipped with Tasers, Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon said. In addition, the department will require crisis intervention training aimed at dealing with emotionally distraught people.

Deputies Mikhail Gerba and Tim Mateski, who responded to the Glenns' Tigard-area home, did not have Tasers. Yet even if they had the weapons, Gordon said, they probably would not have used them because they were standing outside the 21-foot range in which Tasers are considered most effective.

Washington County's new hires all undergo an initial four-hour training session, but annual 24-hour classes updating the training are voluntary. Gordon said that, in his opinion, more crisis intervention training would not have helped save Glenn's life.

"This is because deputies were dealing with a subject who was armed, violent, angry and uncommunicative and fueled by severe intoxication, versus a mentally ill subject," he said.

Toxicology tests found no evidence of illegal drugs in Glenn's system but did show a blood-alcohol level of 0.18 percent. That's more than twice the amount at which a person is considered under the influence when driving in Oregon.

Hope Glenn, Lukus Glenn's mother, had phoned 9-1-1 early that morning saying her son was out of control and threatening her and other family members. Deputies arrived four minutes later and confronted Glenn, who was walking back and forth outside the home's front door.

Audiotapes of the brief confrontation indicate that deputies repeatedly yelled at Glenn to drop a knife he was holding. He repeatedly yelled that they would have to kill him.

Pastore fired six beanbag rounds at Glenn. Five struck the teen.

Seconds later, when Glenn tried to run back into the house where his mother, father and grandmother were, Mateski and Gerba opened fire, killing Glenn almost instantly.

A Washington County district attorney's office investigation, released shortly after the shooting, determined the deputies and officer were "legally justified," finding no cause for taking the case to a grand jury.

Parents of teen killed in 9-1-1 call intend to file suit

2007-03-09T11:35:00.000-08:00

The Oregonian, by My-Thuan Tran

The parents of Lukus Glenn have filed an intent to sue Washington County, Tigard and the deputies and officer involved in shooting the 18-year-old former Tigard High School soccer and football star, claiming the authorities mishandled the situation that resulted in the death of their only son.

The family's lawyer, Larry Peterson of Lake Oswego, said the deputies opened fire too soon, failed to use other forms of nonlethal force and were not trained in crisis management, according to a letter sent Thursday. The notice also said Glenn's parents were not treated fairly during questioning after the shooting.

About 3 a.m. Sept. 16, two sheriff's deputies and a Tigard officer went to the Glenn home just north of Tigard after Hope Glenn called 9-1-1 saying her son was drunk, holding a knife to his throat and threatening the family. When Glenn refused to drop his pocket knife, the officer first shot him with bean bags and the deputies then opened fire as Glenn moved toward the house, striking him with eight bullets.

A Washington County district attorney's office investigation determined the deputies and officer were "legally justified," finding no cause for bringing the case to a grand jury.

Peterson, however, said the police officers could have prevented Glenn's death. A 9-1-1 recording of the shooting shows there is no gap between the bean-bag shots and the bullets fired by the deputies, Peterson wrote in the notice. He added that the deputies gave conflicting information about how much time passed before firing the fatal rounds.

"Where is the time gap? If you listen to the 9-1-1 tape, the shots are all simultaneous," Peterson said. "There is a clear disconnect between the statements made, and no one has bothered to answer that question."

The notice also said that the officers should have used a Taser, which fires non-lethal electric shocks, to subdue Glenn instead of opening fire. The Tigard police officer was carrying a Taser, Peterson said.

The notice claims the officers were not appropriately trained in using deadly force and in dealing with crisis situations.

"They overreacted to a distraught teenager with violent use of force," Peterson said.

Peterson also said investigators questioned Glenn's parents multiple times after the shooting without an attorney present, while the deputies and police officers had two days before their interviews.

Glenn's family requested a public inquest into the shooting but was denied by the Washington County Board of Commissioners.

"We don't feel like we are being treated fairly," Hope Glenn said. "In everyone's mind, the shooting was done by the book, and we don't believe that. We lost our only child. They took his life, and our lives will never be the same again."

Tigard city officials and a county spokesperson said they have received notice of the suit but declined to comment because of the pending litigation.

The dollar amount the family is suing for will be revealed in the lawsuit in the coming months, Peterson said.

In the meantime, the Washington County Sheriff's Office is wrapping up its administrative review into the department's deadly force policies and training, said Sgt. Dave Thompson, spokesperson for the sheriff's office.

Homicides in county jump to 11 in 2006 from six last year

2007-01-04T11:32:00.000-08:00

from The Oregonian, by Holly Danks

Washington County's homicides in 2006 nearly doubled from the previous year, due in part to a triple murder in Bethany and three police shootings.

Eleven people died at the hands of another in 2006, compared with six in 2005 and 10 in 2004. During the past six years, the county's annual homicide toll has averaged eight.

A change from past years is the absence of victims of domestic violence. "There was a time when half or more of the homicides were domestic violence," said District Attorney Robert W. Hermann, who has been a prosecutor for 31 years.

Homicides related to domestic violence "seem to have gone down over the years," Hermann said. He credited aggressive prosecution of domestic abuse cases and a restraining order program that confiscates guns.

But no program, Hermann said, could have saved Melody Dang and her sons, Steven and Jimmy. Investigators say the Dangs' killer was not someone in the family or even someone who knew them.

"Fortunately, it's something that we hardly ever see," Hermann said of the multiple murders. "Even the ones you read about tend to be family members."

The last triple murder in the county was in 1990, when Yoshio Morimoto of Beaverton killed his wife and two young children. Morimoto pleaded guilty during his 1992 trial and was sentenced to life in prison.

Charges were not filed in 2006's three police shootings, because the district attorney's office determined the shootings were justified.

Also, charges of manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide were not filed in the deaths of the four bicyclists killed by cars in 2006. Prosecutors and the grand jury determined the deaths were accidental, not criminal.

However, the district attorney's office charged six drivers with manslaughter in fatal crashes that killed their passengers or people in other vehicles. A jury found one guilty and two others pleaded guilty; trials are pending early in 2007 for the three remaining drivers.

Two more potential vehicular manslaughter cases are under district attorney review.

Here are the 11 Washington County homicides from 2006:

* Juan Humberto Rincon Cruz, 25, was shot to death March 25 in the parking lot of the Center Plaza Apartments in Beaverton. Police think the shots, which killed Rincon Cruz and wounded a friend after they left an apartment, were fired by people in a sport utility vehicle. Unsolved.

* Theodore Faulkner, 27, of Hillsboro was shot in the head May 27 by his friend, Dustin Eugene Ceballos, 30, of Banks, while the two sat in a parked car in Forest Grove. Police said both men were drunk and playing with a loaded gun. Ceballos pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and was sentenced Nov. 20 to five years' probation.

* Dulce Hernandez Onofre, 19 months, of Hillsboro died Aug. 2 after doctors at a Portland hospital declared her brain dead and took her off life support. Ramon Rodriguez Moreno, 27, of Hillsboro was arrested Aug. 1 after taking the child, who was his girlfriend's daughter, to the emergency room with a fractured skull. He is in the Washington County Jail on $250,000 bail, awaiting his May 15 trial for felony murder.

* William Johnson, 4 months, died of head injuries at a Portland hospital Sept. 9, two days after paramedics were called to his Cedar Mill home, when the baby wasn't breathing. The baby's father, Shawn Thornton Johnson Jr., 29, is in the Washington County Jail without bail on a charge of felony murder, awaiting his Sept. 7 trial.

* Lukus Glenn, 18, died Sept. 16 after being shot eight times by two Washington County sheriff's deputies outside his Tigard-area home. Glenn's family called 9-1-1 after the drunken teen, armed with a pocket knife, broke windows and made threats. When Glenn refused to put down the knife and moved toward the house, deputies fatally shot him. The district attorney's office upheld the deputies' actions and declined to send the case to a grand jury. The Glenn family and friends have called for a public hearing into the shooting.

* Neil Bruce Marcy, 45, of Forest Grove was shot to death Oct. 8 by officers from the Forest Grove and Cornelius police departments after he confronted them with a gun in each hand outside the College Place Apartments. The district attorney's office concluded the shooting was a suicide, because Marcy wanted police to kill him.

* Jordan Laird Case, 20, died Oct. 21 after being shot in the head by a Washington County sheriff's deputy. A Tualatin woman called 9-1-1 after awakening to find Case in her apartment. She and her 8-year-old daughter had to fight him off before police arrived. When Case reached inside the deputy's patrol car and tried to grab a locked gun, he was fatally shot. The woman told police that Case had said he was high on psychedelic mushrooms. The district attorney's office ruled the shooting justified.

* Melody Dang, 37, and her sons, Steven, 15, and Jimmy, 12, died of gunshot wounds Nov. 2 in their Bethany-area home. A month later, investigators arrested Ricardo Serrano, 31, of Aloha. Court documents indicate Serrano's wife was having an affair with Melody Dang's longtime live-in boyfriend, who was at work the night of the murders and found the bodies when he came home. Investigators say Serrano wanted the boyfriend to suffer and planned also to kill him. Serrano is charged with 10 counts of aggravated murder, and his death penalty trial is set for Feb. 12, 2008.

* Fleeta Sheely, 62, of Hillsboro had terminal cancer and was shot to death by her husband, Richard Sheely, 64, who then shot and killed himself in their Jackson Creek home. A co-worker of Fleeta Sheely's found their bodies in their bed on Nov. 15. Police said the door was open, and their wills and obituaries were laid out.

Police: Shot boy was suicidal

2007-01-03T11:27:00.000-08:00

from The Oregonian, by Holly Danks and David R. Anderson

Washington County sheriff's investigators say a 14-year-old boy who was shot by a deputy had taken his father's high-velocity semiautomatic rifle out of an unlocked gun safe, loaded it with steel-cased, full metal jacket bullets and sped off in the family car late Monday after everyone else was in bed.

Authorities continued Tuesday to look into details surrounding the shooting of Brandon Scruggs, an eighth-grader at Conestoga Middle School in Beaverton. They said Scruggs was suicidal Monday night when he jumped from the car so quickly, holding the loaded rifle, that the deputy had little time to react.

Scruggs was in stable condition Tuesday at Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center, said Sgt. Michael O'Connell, a sheriff's detective who leads the county's Major Crimes Team.

He declined to say where Scruggs was hit or how many times, citing the investigation's preliminary status. Because of federal regulations, hospital representatives would not comment.

O'Connell said Scruggs told medical personnel he pointed his rifle at the deputy because "I wanted him to shoot me, I wanted to die."

O'Connell said Scruggs' parents --Glenn and Valerie Scruggs --"have no idea why he would do this, they're perplexed." He said they did not know Scruggs was missing Monday night or had taken their stick-shift Volkswagen.

Scruggs' parents could not be reached for comment Tuesday by The Oregonian.

Sheriff's Sgt. David Thompson said a deputy pulled over a car without taillights that was speeding west along Southwest Tualatin Valley Highway shortly after 11:30 p.m. Monday near Southeast 75th Avenue, in an unincorporated area near Hillsboro's southeast corner.

The deputy, whose name was not released, called for backup and told the driver to stay in the car, which had pulled about 30 feet onto 75th Avenue.

Instead, O'Connell said, the driver "came bolting out of that car with a rifle in his hands holding it in a threatening manner."

The deputy backed a few feet behind his patrol car and fired because he thought his life was in danger, O'Connell said.

"It all happened very quickly," he said.

The deputy, who was placed on paid administrative leave as is routine in officer-involved shootings, was to be interviewed today. Both the deputy and Scruggs were alone in their vehicles, investigators said.

Scruggs did not fire his rifle, but O'Connell said it was loaded with ammunition that would "easily pierce a police vest."

Thompson added that such a round fired from a high-velocity SKS "would go through a car."

O'Connell said Scruggs and his father had gone target shooting with the weapon in the past week.

"He knew it was more than just a pop gun," O'Connell said.

Scruggs is expected to face charges when he is released from the hospital.

Monday night's incident was the third in the past five months in which Washington County sheriff's deputies shot someone.

Lukus Glenn, 18, died Sept. 16 after two deputies shot him eight times when he threatened them, himself and his family with a knife outside his Tigard home. Jordan Case, 20, died Oct. 21 after a sheriff's deputy shot him when he broke into a neighbor's Tualatin apartment, then ran to a patrol car and tried to grab a gun.

Shocked neighbors on Southwest Bristlecone Way south of Beaverton and west of Tigard, said Scruggs was quiet, didn't cause trouble and seemed happy.

They said Scruggs often went hunting and fishing with his father. The boy had a hunting license; anyone younger than 18 has to take a safety class and carry a state Hunter Education certificate when hunting off family private property.

"He was always very nice, always very polite," said Lori Brush, who lives five houses from the Scruggses.

Conestoga Middle School students who live in Scruggs' neighborhood said the boy loves to skateboard and hopes to become a professional.

"He's cool with his friends," said Stilyan Slavov, a seventh-grader. "He's nice."

Scruggs didn't talk much of guns, his friends said, and didn't seem depressed.

"I didn't think Brandon would do anything like this," said Henry Taylor, a seventh-grader.

Anyone with information about the shooting or Scruggs is asked to call the Washington County Sheriff's Office at 503-846-2700.

"We are very interested in talking with anyone who might know why he was so troubled," O'Connell said. "We want to know what he was doing in Reedville and what was so bad about his life that he felt he needed police to shoot him."

2006: A year of growth and pains

2006-12-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

from The Oregonian

SEPTEMBER

Washington County sheriff's deputies respond to a call for help in unincorporated Washington County, north of Tigard, after reports that a drunken teen armed with a pocket knife is breaking windows and threatening himself and others. Within about four minutes of the deputies' arrival, a Tigard police officer fires nonlethal beanbag rounds at 18-year-old Lukus Glenn. Then two sheriff's deputies shoot him to death. In October, the county district attorney's office upholds the officers' actions, declining to send the case to a grand jury.

2006: Highlights, lowlights and other Dubious Distinctions

2006-12-28T11:20:00.000-08:00

from The Oregonian

Sweet, sad, big, small, infinite, fleeting. News in Washington County covered all the adjectives in 2006.

The year was as sweet as the 12-year-old Murrayhill ballplayers who ventured across the country and came oh-so-close to winning a world championship. And it was as sad as sheriff's deputies killing Lukus Glenn, an out-of-control teenager, outside his Tigard-area home.

A fatal plane crash jeopardized the future of the Hillsboro air show. Then last week, show organizers snagged the U.S. Navy Blue Angels for 2007.

In Beaverton, the conjunction of two small animals --a cat and an iguana --caused an apartment fire.

Some sagas seemed never ending: Nike versus Beaverton, county Fair Board versus fair boosters. Other stories were fleeting: A Hillsboro teenager got in trouble for pulling his socks up high.

And some stories are becoming all too familiar. Three of the county's young men died in military service in Iraq.

Here's our recap of the moments that made us smile, cringe or cry over the past year --with hopes that we'll see more of the first in 2007.

Boys of summer: Murrayhill Little League took fans on a wild ride when the 12- and 13-year-olds became the first Oregon team in 48 years to earn a trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. The team ended up in third place.

Top cops: The Beaverton Police Department was one of three winners worldwide of the Webber Seavey Award, recognized for its identity theft and fraud prevention program. The department shared the honor, sponsored by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Motorola, with the District Police in Nalgonda, India, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Win some: Wal-Mart won approval from the Cornelius City Council to build a supercenter on North Adair Street.

Lose some: After a monthslong battle, Wal-Mart's plans to put a store in the Cedar Mill area ultimately were rejected by the Beaverton City Council.

Putting the "wall" in Wal-Mart: A Forest Grove official offended neighbors in Cornelius when he suggested building a 600-foot wall next to a proposed Wal-Mart to keep shoplifters and thieves out of his community. "The implication is people from Cornelius are going to be stealing things and running into Forest Grove," Cornelius planner Catherine Sidman huffed.

Good intentions, bad timeliness: New city manager David Waffle praised the Cornelius City Council in January for posting its newsletter on the Web in both English and Spanish. He noted, however, that the newsletter currently posted was a year old.

Best sense of humor: Waffle started a weekly online briefing he called "Hot Off the Griddle."

Oh, that trip to Hawaii: Sen. Ryan Deckert, D-Beaverton, and Sen. Bruce Starr and Rep. Derrick Kitts, both R-Hillsboro, were among legislators who got in hot water when it was revealed they violated state law by not reporting trips to Hawaii paid for by beer and wine distributors in 2002 and 2004.

It's not the Big Island, but . . . Rep. Mark Hass, D-Raleigh Hills, acknowledged that he failed to report a 2003 trip to Idaho paid for by Idaho Power Co.

Best proof history repeats itself: Al Young lost his May primary bid for Metro councilor after it came out that he owed the county nearly $13,000 in back taxes. Young, a former state representative from Hillsboro, got in trouble in 1989 for owing $25,000 in back taxes on some of the same property.

Dogs gone: Organizers of a dog show expected to draw 2,000 dogs and twice that many people pulled out of the Washington County Fair Complex after they found out the Oregon International Airshow was scheduled for the same July weekend at neighboring Hillsboro Airport.

A fair to forget: Opus Northwest dropped out of a deal to redevelop the county fairgrounds. Company officials said two years of community bickering about what should happen with the property made their job impossible.

Sir Lancelot to the rescue? A Renaissance festival company proposed a 20-year lease to put on a medieval fair, including jesters and jousters, at the fairgrounds. The deal could be worth $500,000 annually to the county.

Most animated undertaking: Nike founder Phil Knight announced plans to build a 30-acre campus in Tualatin to house his animation studio, Laika Entertainment.

In other film news: DVD rental company Netflix Inc. announced it would move its customer service operation from the Bay Area to Tanasbourne.

Best hero, confectionery division: Jake Stubbs, a Glencoe High senior, used the Heimlich maneuver to save a classmate choking on a Jolly Rancher lollipop.

Best heroes, fire division: Kevin O'Keeffe and Peter Bradshaw of Aloha were honored for saving a neighbor's life in an early morning fire. The men pounded on the front door and rescued the wheelchair-dependent resident, who was in bed, before firefighters arrived.

Best hero, primatologist division: Jane Goodall, the celebrity primate expert, named Washo Shadowhawk, a Beaverton teen, as one of her heroes for his volunteer work with Roots & Shoots and the Oregon Zoo.

The Crips, the Bloods and the Socks: Hillsboro school officials sent sophomore Luis Vargas home in October for pulling his socks to the knees, a look they say is sported by local gang members. "I don't dress like this all the time," Vargas said. "I wear nice shirts and pants. But when I wear shorts, I pull up my socks. That's just an outfit I have."

Who knew world records were like potato chips? Hillsboro set a new Guinness World Record in August for the most people wearing balloon hats at one location: 1,874. The milestone stirred hopes of fresh conquests. "We want to have more records in Guinness than any other city," said Mayor Tom Hughes, mentioning clown noses as one possibility.

High price of government screw-ups, Part I: The federal government agreed to pay Brandon Mayfield and his family $2 million for the emotional toll they suffered after the Aloha lawyer was wrongly jailed in connection with the deadly Madrid, Spain, train bombings of 2004.

High price of government screw-ups, Part II: Beaverton's legal bills approached $500,000 in its fight with Nike over public records related to annexation. The tab could grow considerably in January, depending how much of Nike's legal bills a Washington County judge orders the city to pay. The same judge ruled that city officials were in contempt of court for withholding records.

Tired of being like Mike: Allen Heckard, 51, of Northeast Portland filed suit in Washington County seeking more than $800 million from Michael Jordan and Nike founder Phil Knight. Heckard claimed his resemblance to the NBA star had denied him "the right to live a normal life." A few weeks later, Heckard dropped the suit.

The show must go on: A vintage British jet fighter crashed seconds after taking off from the Oregon International Airshow in July. The crash killed the pilot, destroyed one house and damaged three others near Hillsboro Airport. After months of debate, air show organizers vowed the show would return next summer and announced in December that the U.S. Navy Blue Angels would be the headliners.

Best real-life Mr. Chips: Intel donated nearly $207,000 to Washington County public schools to match volunteer hours its employees contributed. The company also donated 200 Gateway laptops valued at $350,000 to a pilot technology program at four schools, including Tom McCall Upper Elementary School in Forest Grove.

No velvet Elvis: Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette earned $165,002 when it auctioned a donated painting from its Hillsboro store. What was thought to be cheap yard-sale art turned out to be painted by Frank Weston Benson, a French-trained American impressionist.

Most valedictorians: Westview High School named every senior who earned a 4.0 grade-point average a valedictorian: 75 students shared the honor.

Most new combinations: Tigard High School had to change 2,000 locker combinations after a 17-year-old student hacked into the school's computer system and posted locker combinations online, along with teachers' home addresses, phone numbers and e-mail passwords.

Easing the road to college: In February, the Beaverton School District became the first in Oregon to pay for all its high-schoolers to take ACT exams, which most colleges and universities accept for admission. Nearly 9,000 students took the tests.

Easing the road to, um, Wilsonville: Construction started in October on a 14.7-mile commuter rail line between Beaverton and Wilsonville.

Most generous: Voters in the November election agreed to open their wallets, passing bond measures in the Beaverton and Hillsboro school districts, as well as county levies to pay for public safety and libraries.

Worst news for homeowners: Residents of three Cedar Hills manufactured home parks, totaling 218 spaces, joined mobile home owners throughout the county in finding out they would lose their spaces in the next year. Development pressure makes the land more valuable for other uses, but it's often impossible to find new sites for older homes.

Little people, big audience: TLC, The Learning Channel, made stars of Helvetia residents Matt and Amy Roloff and their four children in a cable reality show called "Little People, Big World." By the end of the year, more than 1.6 million viewers were tuning in to watch the adventures of the family that includes three members who have dwarfism.

Little people, big accident: A pumpkin-chunkin' event turned dangerous for the Roloffs when a trebuchet, a catapultlike machine used to launch pumpkins, injured their 9-year-old son and the man who helped build the device.

Worst dating strategy: An Aloha woman was sentenced to probation and community service after she called 9-1-1, wanting the name of the deputy who had knocked on her door after neighbors complained her music was too loud. The 45-year-old woman told the emergency dispatcher the deputy was "the cutest cop I've seen in God knows how long." The deputy returned and arrested her for improper use of the 9-1-1 emergency system.

Worst spurned lover: Albertson's managers asked a customer to quit coming to the Peterkort store after his attentions and love letters made a clerk uncomfortable. The thwarted Romeo responded by slashing tires on 56 cars in the parking lot.

Hearing petition surprises Tigard officials

2006-11-30T11:17:00.000-08:00

from The Oregonian, by Kate Taylor

SUMMARY: Lukus Glenn Supporters of the teen who was shot by officers seek a public hearing
Tigard City officials on Wednesday are baffled by a 1,060-signature petition calling for a public hearing on the police-shooting death of Lukus Glenn. The officials received the petition at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

An estimated 50 family members, friends and classmates of the 18-year-old former Tigard High School football star packed the council meeting. During public commentary, they expressed their concern over police actions in the Sept. 16 death.

"We are appalled by the response of police during this particular situation," read one of the petitions, signed by nine students of Wilson High School. "We feel that other actions could have been taken which could have prevented this wrongful death. This needless loss of life should not be tolerated or overlooked."

Washington County sheriff's deputies responded to the Glenn home in unincorporated Washington County north of Tigard after reports that the drunken teen armed with a pocket knife was breaking windows and threatening himself and others. Within about four minutes, a Tigard police officer fired non-lethal beanbag rounds at Glenn and two sheriff's deputies shot him to death.

On Wednesday, Mayor Craig Dirksen said councilors had not talked about the petition but he doesn't believe it's the city's place to take a stand.

"I guess I'm glad that the people felt free to come and talk to us, that they would consider it an avenue," Dirksen said. "I don't know that it resulted in any satisfaction on their part."

Dirksen said that the shooting happened outside city limits and that Tigard police were not the primary agency involved.

Members of Lukus Glenn's family could not be reached Wednesday for comment. But Larry Peterson, a Lake Oswego attorney representing the family, remained critical of Tigard, saying that the officials could help see that justice is done.

"The response (at Tuesday's meeting) was 'Yeah, we'll look at it again.' It was real namby-pamby," Peterson said. The city is shirking responsibility, he said, because a Tigard police officer was involved in the shooting, the city funds and oversees its police and because the city is charged with answering questions asked by its citizens.

In October, the district attorney's office upheld the officers' actions and declined to send the case to a grand jury. The Glenn family asked Tigard and the Washington County Board of Commissioners to hold a public inquest into the shooting, but the county commissioners refused.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - 11/2/2006

2006-11-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

Who furnished the alcohol?

Everyone is saddened for all involved in the tragic loss of 18-year-old Lukus Glenn. I try not to pass judgment on anyone involved because I wasn't there.

However, the piece by the Glenns' attorney, Lawrence K. Peterson ("The public deserves more than silence," Oct. 31), bashing Washington County for its silence and not "focusing on the larger picture" was the last straw for me.

Glenn's drunken state was the major contributing factor in his death, and no less so than if he had died wrapping his car around a utility pole. His blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit for an adult, which he was not. There is no legal limit for a teenager.

If the Glenns and their attorney truly want to focus on the "larger picture," then they ought to be demanding to know who furnished the alcohol Lukus drank. The event that unfolded in the Glenns' front yard was the tragic consequence of someone else's illegal and irresponsible actions.

MARY BETH BUFFUM

Northwest Portland

IN MY OPINION - THE DEATH OF LUKUS GLENN - The public deserves more than silence

2006-10-31T11:12:00.000-08:00

Special to The Oregonian, Lawrence K. Peterson

I represent the family of Lukus Glenn, the 18-year-old who was shot and killed last month by Washington County sheriff's deputies shortly after his mother called 9-1-1 for help in dealing with her drunk, distressed son.
Because of numerous public misrepresentations by Washington County officials, Lukus' parents, Hope and Brad Glenn, have sought to have a further conversation within the community about their son's death, a conversation between the public and law enforcement to help all of us understand the role of emergency services. Why? Because in Hope's words, "They didn't have to shoot him; we just asked for help."

Local citizens invest millions of dollars annually in law enforcement and 9-1-1 services. Local government is responsible to see that the money is well spent and that police power is not abused. City halls and county boards certainly should have a voice after such incidents and should provide a forum through which the public, the families of those affected and law enforcement can be heard.

But some in law enforcement don't see it that way. Former Portland police officer C.W. Jensen argued in a letter to the editor in The Oregonian that the lay public doesn't understand such incidents because they are not experts and have never faced violent confrontations. In an article in the October "Rap Sheet" from the Portland Police Association, retired Capt. James Harvey rails against "armchair quarterbacks" and mockingly suggests that people should call columnist Steve Duin or The Oregonian's offices "to deal with the violence," as if this bit of curious wit ends the discussion. In the same edition, PPA president and police officer Robert King rebukes any request for a public inquest as "outdated, unnecessary and destructive" because of the "community's failure to understand us."

The last time I checked, Steve Duin and The Oregonian are in business to report and comment on news and events, while law enforcement officials have sworn to protect and to serve. It is simply arrogant to state that those people you are sworn to protect and serve --and who are taxed for your paycheck --should not have the right to voice their concerns.

In the Glenn case, the family looked forward to a grand jury hearing. None was convened. They were told to wait for the official reports. They did. What they found was that the officers had inaccurately described the facts regarding Lukus' death --specifically that there was a long gap between when beanbag rounds were fired and when the lethal rounds were fired. The Washington County district attorney accepted the officers' version of the events, even though an audio recording of that night clearly contradicts that version, showing that there was no gap between the beanbag rounds and the lethal fire.

Despite pointing out the plain inaccuracy of the DA's report, the family's questions have been met with deafening silence from public officials.

It doesn't require a history of experience with violent confrontation to listen to a tape recording --or from that to question the actions of law enforcement. Asking legitimate questions is the public's right, and it is the government's obligation to answer.

Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer got a lot of it right in her opinion piece last week ("A time to focus on the broader issues," Oct. 25). This is the time to "focus on the larger picture" in review of emergency services. It is not the time to fall behind the closed ranks of the "thin blue line" and hope the questions go away.

An open, transparent review of the facts surrounding Lukus Glenn's death is a constructive step in the process of administering emergency services and restoring the public's confidence in the 9-1-1 system. It's not the first time that a family of a troubled, drunken teen has called for help. And it won't be the last.

Lawrence K. Peterson is an attorney representing the Glenn family.

Deputy kills man who grabs for rifle

2006-10-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Lisa Grace Lednicer

SUMMARY: Tualatin Officers say an apartment intruder fights, then breaks away despite Taser use and beanbag rounds
TUALATIN --A Washington County sheriff's deputy shot and killed an intruder early Sunday morning after Taser shocks and beanbag rounds failed to subdue him, and the man tried to reach for the officer's weapon, police said.

Deputies were still trying to identify the man Sunday afternoon, said Sgt. David Thompson, spokesman for the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

The incident began shortly before midnight when the man broke into a woman's apartment, Thompson said.

The fatal shooting was the second involving Washington County deputies in recent weeks, following the Sept. 16 shooting of 18-year-old Lukus Glenn outside his parents' Metzger home.

Thompson gave the following account of Sunday's incident at the Woodridge apartment complex:

Just before 11:50 p.m. Saturday, a 29-year-old woman awoke on the couch of her ground-floor apartment in the 11900 block of Southwest Tualatin Road and found a man touching her. She ordered him to leave.

When the man refused, the woman grabbed her cell phone and ran into her 8-year-old daughter's bedroom at the back of the apartment. She leaned against the door to keep it shut, but the man overpowered her, followed her into the room and began attacking her. Nevertheless, the woman was able to call 9-1-1, Thompson said. She sustained minor injuries, and her daughter was not hurt.

A Tualatin police officer responded to the call, fought with the man --who had taken a kitchen knife from the apartment --and fired a Taser gun to shock him, to no effect, Thompson said. Next, a Sherwood police officer arrived and ordered the man to the ground. When he refused to obey, the officer fired beanbag rounds at the man, which didn't slow him.

As the fight spilled out of the apartment, the man ran across Southwest Tualatin Road onto a grassy knoll. When a Washington County sheriff's deputy arrived, the man ran toward him. The deputy ordered him to stop, but he didn't, so the deputy fired a Taser gun.

Undeterred, the man opened the driver's side door and tried to grab an MP-5 rifle mounted between the front seats, Thompson said. The deputy shot the intruder several times, and the man slumped against the side of the car, then reached inside again. The deputy shot him, and the man collapsed outside the car and died, Thompson said.

Thompson declined to release the names of the woman and the three officers. The officers are on paid administrative leave while officials investigate the incident.

It was not known how the man entered the woman's apartment. The woman told police she did not know him.

The apartment complex is on a stretch of Southwest Tualatin Road lined with office parks and young trees. The complex has a pool and playground, and residents said violent events such as Sunday morning's are atypical.

"Every once in a while you get a police car, but nothing major like this," said Claudia Thomas, a retired bookkeeper who lives at the complex. "It's usually pretty quiet."

Parents' lawyer challenges DA's view

2006-10-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Kate Taylor

SUMMARY: Glenn death The attorney says deputies were too quick to fire at the Tigard-area youth
LAKE OSWEGO -- An attorney for the parents of a Tigard-area youth shot dead last month by Washington County sheriff's deputies said on Thursday the district attorney's review of the shooting was flawed.

In particular, Lake Oswego attorney Larry Peterson said deputies were too quick to fire at Lukus Glenn, 18, who had just been shot with beanbag rounds. He also said that Glenn was not running away, but instead reeling from the impact of the beanbag rounds when the deputies fired.

Police on Sept. 16 shot Glenn after his mother called 9-1-1, saying he was drunk, out of control and threatening the family. Deputies Mikhail Gerba and Tim Mateski and Tigard police officer Andrew Pastore confronted Glenn outside the home, and when he refused to drop a pocket knife, the officer shot him with bean bags and then the two deputies opened fire as Glenn moved toward the house.

Hope Glenn on Thursday blinked back tears as Peterson played the 9-1-1 tape of her son's shooting to a roomful of reporters in the attorney's office.

Holding up his fingers as the sound of beanbag rounds and then live rounds filled the room, Peterson told reporters to note that there was no gap between the beanbag shots and the bullets fired by the two sheriff's deputies.

"Where is the time gap?" Peterson asked. "Where is the time gap? There is no time gap. Citizens of Washington County should be able to rely on their 9-1-1 system and the law enforcement community."

In post-shooting interviews, Peterson said, police gave conflicting accounts of how much time elapsed. Peterson emphasized Gerba's version that Lukus Glenn exchanged words with his father, grandmother and police between the beanbag rounds and before the shots were fired. Peterson compared that with Pastore's comments that three to five seconds passed after he shot beanbag volleys and the deputies finished firing their guns.

Peterson also said he believed that --counter to what police have said in interviews --Glenn never ran toward his house, but was propelled by bean bags.

Sitting with her husband, Brad Glenn, Hope Glenn continued to press for a public inquest for the sake of the lessons the case holds.

"I don't think it should happen to anybody else," she said. "It didn't have to happen that way."

The shooting has raised questions in the community about police use of deadly force.

"We are training officers to be very active in the use of firearms as a first resort and certainly not as a last resort," Peterson said. "There are alternatives, and they should be reviewed and pursued."

Last week, Deputy District Attorney Rob Bletko decided not to send the case to a grand jury because, he said, he didn't find criminal misconduct in police actions.

Thursday, Peterson said Bletko's analysis was based on a flawed investigation.

But on Thursday, Bletko said a different timeline of shots fired would not have altered his decision.

"If (Peterson) thinks the shots are closer together than the tape clearly indicates . . . that doesn't affect my decision," Bletko said. "It happened quickly. It doesn't take long to turn and move in a particular direction. But that doesn't change my decision."

At the news conference, Peterson --who wrote a letter to the Washington County Board of Commissioners and the city of Tigard Oct. 5 requesting a public inquest --criticized officials of those agencies for their silence.

"The legal counsel is reviewing the situation . . ., said Washington County Chairman Tom Brian. "The board is in limbo waiting and really can't comment further."

Tigard Mayor Craig Dirksen said Thursday afternoon that he had received Peterson's letter, but that he and members of the City Council didn't feel it was appropriate to respond.

"I guess I don't feel it's our place to do that. It really involves the Washington County Sheriff's Department and they need to be the ones to respond," Dirksen said. "If a decision was made to do an inquest, though, we would, of course, cooperate."

EDITORIAL: Teen's death demands public illumination

2006-10-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

Last month, The Oregonian's Dana Tims reported that the fatal police shooting of a Tigard-area teenager had unfolded in accordance with standard operating procedure ("Experts say shooting death of teen went 'by the book,' " Sept. 20). Understandably, a collective shudder rippled through the region. It was as if people muttered in unison: Well, if that's so, then it's time to throw away the book.
Of course, that's an over-reaction. Of course, hindsight is 20-20. And of course, law enforcement officers have to make split-second decisions to protect themselves and other people from harm.

On Sept. 16, when officers arrived at the home of Lukus Glenn, they'd been advised that the distraught 18-year-old had made some threats against his family. At least one officer feared Glenn might rush inside and take a hostage.

Few of us would question what happened next if Glenn had been armed with a gun. If he'd refused to put that weapon down, you could understand why officers felt they had to shoot him. His death would be a sad, but straightforward, example of "suicide by cop."

But the former high school football and soccer star was armed with a pocketknife. Surely, there was a better way to approach Glenn that night. Surely, there was a better way --or at least a way --for the three officers at the scene to resolve the situation without gunfire.

This week, the Washington County district attorney's office ruled that the shooting death was legally justifiable. There is no need, the DA's office concluded, even for a grand jury to review the evidence. This ruling does not begin to put questions about Glenn's death to rest. If anything, the ruling confirms the inadequacy of the legal apparatus invoked after a police-involved death. That apparatus is set up to ask and answer a narrow question: Did the officers involved commit a crime?

Almost always, the answer is no. True, the Washington County Sheriff's Office has embarked on an administrative review of what happened, which could be very valuable. But like a ruling from a district attorney's office, no internal review can substitute for a public and independent airing of the facts.

What law enforcement colleagues decide about each other's actions is inherently suspect. It's too easy for them to sympathize with each other, defend and justify whatever happened. Only a public inquest can assure the public that the most painful questions about a death haven't been sidestepped.

What the public wants to know is: How could this death have been avoided? What could, and should, the law enforcement officers involved have done differently? If Glenn's death went by the book, then the book jeopardizes public safety.

We may not be able to throw it out, but we certainly need to change it.

Police shooting 'legally justified'

2006-10-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

The Oregonian, by Dana Tims and Kate Taylor

SUMMARY: Lukus Glenn The district attorney finds no cause for a grand jury in the death of a Tigard-area young man
HILLSBORO --The Washington County district attorney's office finished investigating the Sept. 16 shooting death of a Tigard-area youth Wednesday, calling the incident "tragic" but "legally justified."

Lukus Glenn's family, however, is not done with the case. On Wednesday, his mother and attorney criticized the decision and said they are considering a lawsuit.

As sheriff's officials launched an administrative review into deadly force policies and training Wednesday, members of the Glenn family renewed their call for a public inquest. They said they were disappointed that a grand jury would not look into the incident in which two Washington County sheriff's deputies shot and killed Glenn, 18, after he refused to put down a knife.

Hope Glenn called 9-1-1 about 3 a.m. that morning, saying her son was drunk, out of control and threatening the family. Minutes later, three officers arrived at the family's house. When the youth refused to drop the knife, an officer shot him with bean bags before the deputies opened fire as he moved toward the home.

"We're disappointed with the decision," said Larry K. Peterson, attorney for the Glenn family. He said he plans today to say more about the district attorney's decision and added that "all options are open" when asked whether the family plans to file a civil lawsuit.

The district attorney's office released several hundred pages of investigative notes, charts, interviews and medical reports Wednesday morning detailing the days, and minutes, that culminated in Glenn's early morning death.

"I have concluded that the shooting of Mr. Glenn, while tragic, was legally justified," wrote Rob Bletko, the county's chief deputy district attorney, in a letter to Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon.

"The material facts surrounding the shooting are not in dispute. There is no good reason to believe that the deputies committed a crime, and therefore a grand jury review in this case is not warranted."

In a separate interview Wednesday, Bletko said he could find no legal basis for holding the public inquest Peterson called for late last week.

Statutory provisions for public inquests rest largely on whether key facts are in question, Bletko said. Those most often focus on disputes over the identity of the deceased, the determination of where and when a person died, and the cause and manner of death.

"In this particular case," he said, "all of the questions at issue are very clear. The medical examiner's report and supporting documents answer every one of those."

Peterson, however, said family members and friends of Glenn's, who were present during the brief but heated encounter with deputies Mikhail Gerba and Tim Mateski and Tigard police patrol officer Andrew Pastore, disagree with a number of the investigation's findings.

They dispute, for instance, deputies' contention that Glenn was shot only after he started running toward the house, where his mother, father and grandmother looked on.

Hope Glenn, Lukus Glenn's mother, said on Wednesday that her son was slowly staggering, not running, toward the house's front door. She has in the past told investigators that her son was trying to move around the side of the house to get away from the bean bags.

In interviews with investigators, all three officers at the scene said that Glenn, armed with a knife, either "ran" or "bolted" toward the house, even after Pastore shot him with at least five nonlethal bean bag rounds.

Shots' timing questioned

Family members and friends also said that the brief pause between the bean bags and the bullets was far too short for the officers to adequately evaluate the effects of the bean bags.

"They both shot simultaneously," Hope Glenn said. "You can hear that on the (9-1-1) tape."

Gerba, explaining why he opened fire so soon after the bean bags were used, again referred to Lukus Glenn's speed moving toward the residence, telling investigators, "I felt that we were either going to have a hostage situation or he was going to kill somebody in the house."

The bean bags themselves, he said, appeared to have little or no effect on Glenn.

"From what I looked at it, it looked like somebody just tossed something and just bounced off of him," Gerba said.

He added that the situation escalated so quickly that the officers had no time to discuss tactics or defensive strategies, such as positioning themselves between Glenn and the house or ordering the family to evacuate the house through a back door.

"I'm thinking, let's wait for more officers to get here," Gerba told investigators. "We need to come up with a plan."

Only seconds later, the fatal shots were fired, with Gerba shooting four times and Mateski seven. A total of eight bullets struck Glenn, according to medical reports, with two of those shots doing enough damage to be fatal.

Sheriff starts review

The Washington County Sheriff's Office has launched an administrative review into the shooting, said Chief Deputy Pat Garrett.

Since the district attorney's office determined the deputies violated no laws, the review will address additional or different tools, training or policies that could be used to help with similar situations, Garrett said.

The sheriff's office, he added, will consider bringing in nationally recognized experts and may accept suggestions from the public on the scope of the review.

Lt. John Black, the sheriff's training leader and expert in the use of force, said the failure of the bean bags to disable Glenn will be studied. He described the bean bags as 2-inch-wide bags filled with pellets that are packed into a shotgun and, when fired, travel at a rate of more than 400 feet per second.

"It's like getting hit with a hardball," Black said.

Deputies Gerba and Mateski returned to work several days ago, said Sgt. Michael O'Connell, head of the county's Major Crimes Team. Both deputies have received department-provided psychological assistance considered mandatory following fatal shootings, he said. They will continue to be evaluated in coming months.

"It's clear the events of the night of the 16th have been and will continue to be devastating to everyone involved," Garrett said.

Holly Danks of The Oregonian staff contributed to this story.

What's next

2006-10-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

What happened: The Washington County district attorney's office said Wednesday it found that two sheriff's office deputies acted legally when they shot and killed Lukus Glenn, 18, outside his Tigard-area home Sept. 16.
What it means: Criminal charges will not be considered by a grand jury. The district attorney's office also declined to hold a public inquest sought by family members of Lukus Glenn.

What's ahead: The sheriff's office will launch an administrative review of the shooting that will focus on whether new or additional tools or policies may be useful in preventing similar outcomes in the future. Glenn's family is considering filing a civil suit stemming from the shooting.

Police faceoff ends with fatal shots

2006-10-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Jill Rehkopf Smith

SUMMARY: Forest Grove A 45-year-old with a gun in each hand walks out of his apartment and confronts officers
FOREST GROVE --A 45-year-old man was shot and killed by officers Sunday night after police said he confronted them outside his apartment with a gun in each hand.

Forest Grove police identified the man as Neil Bruce Marcy. Three officers were involved in the shooting at the College Place Apartments, 2607 21st Ave.

"In terms of whether this was an attempted 'suicide by cop,' we're certainly looking at that as a possibility," said Capt. Aaron Ashbaugh, spokesman for the Forest Grove Police Department. "There's no question that he wanted to engage the police."

Barney Cogswell, who was staying next door with Ed and Donna Johnson in an apartment that now has bullet holes in the walls, said he heard police yelling, "Put down your guns!" and Marcy shouting, "You put yours down first."

Cogswell and the Johnsons were among those evacuated by police after the incident began.

The incident shocked neighbors, who described Marcy, a machine-shop worker who lived alone, as friendly and responsible. However, bartenders at a neighborhood tavern said Marcy could cause problems when he was drinking.

Ashbaugh could not confirm whether the investigation into Marcy's death will include testing for drugs or alcohol. The state medical examiner's office did not return calls for comment.

According to Ashbaugh, someone called

9-1-1 about 10:50 p.m. to report something about a shooting before quickly hanging up. Ashbaugh declined to say who made the call and said the Washington County Major Crimes Team, which is investigating the shooting, would release that information later.

When police arrived at the complex, they began taking cover, positioning themselves around Marcy's apartment and trying to talk him into a peaceful solution.

About 11:35 p.m., police saw Marcy walk outside with a pistol in his hand, fire it into the air and return inside, Ashbaugh said.

About 11:50 p.m., Marcy walked out the apartment door with a gun in each hand, Ashbaugh said. When Marcy raised his hands, officers shot and killed him. It is unclear how many shots were fired.

"It almost sounded like machine-gun fire," said Gary Alexander, who lives a few houses away from the apartment complex.

Two of the officers involved in the shooting were from the Forest Grove Police Department and one from the Cornelius Police Department. Following standard practice, the officers are on paid leave for about 10 days, Ashbaugh said. The names of the officers involved in the shooting will not be released until the Major Crimes Team finishes its investigation.

Marcy's death follows the shooting of 18-year-old Lukus Glenn by Washington County sheriff's deputies in Metzger last month. Deputies responded to the Glenn home Sept. 16 after reports that the intoxicated teen, armed with a pocket knife, was threatening others and himself.

Marcy had lived at the apartment complex for about two years, Ashbaugh said. According to public records, Marcy did not have a criminal history.

Neighbors described him as sociable and friendly. He brought food to last year's Thanksgiving celebration at the apartment complex. And he had befriended a stray cat. Monday morning, a dish with water and cat food still sat outside Marcy's apartment door.

Neighbors said Marcy has a sister who visited him frequently and also has an 18-year-old son.

The Johnsons sat outside Saturday night enjoying a beer with Marcy. They said he was talking about his job and was excited about switching companies and getting better pay. He was always respectful, Ed Johnson said: "He didn't cuss or anything."

But bartenders at the Circle Inn Tavern saw a different side.

Bartender Hannah Coates used to see Marcy every Saturday night when she worked the night shift months ago.

"He usually drank double shots of (Jose) Cuervo," she said. "Once he had that tequila in him, he was a totally different person." He would get rowdy and annoy customers, she said.

Three weeks ago, Coates said, the night bartender "eighty-sixed" Marcy, ordering him to leave and not to come back.

This is the second fatal police shooting Ashbaugh can recall in the city in 20 years. The other was in January 2003 at a manufactured home park, when a member of the Washington County Sheriff's Tactical Negotiations Team shot a man who appeared to be firing at neighbors and police.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR -10/9/06

2006-10-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Who supplied the alcohol?

I've read the accusations of "inept" police and grieved for a mother who wishes she'd never called 9-1-1 about her son's behavior. But how about considering the real cause of the tragedy? Who gave Lukus Glenn the alcohol that resulted in his intoxication?

"Drunk" is not a rational state for anyone, but the usual highs and lows of simply being 18 years old may exacerbate the effects. The real villain is the supplier of alcohol to someone not of legal drinking age.

DAR YOUNG

Tigard

Family of teen seeks inquest in his shooting

2006-10-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Kate Taylor

The family of Lukus Glenn on Thursday called for a public inquest into the 18-year-old's fatal shooting by Washington County sheriff's deputies last month near Tigard.
The request, made in a letter written by the family's attorney, Larry K. Peterson of Lake Oswego, asks in particular that the Washington County Board of Commissioners and the Tigard City Council also ask for a public inquest.

Sheriff's deputies responded to the Glenn home Sept. 16 after reports that the intoxicated teen was breaking windows and, armed with a pocket knife, was threatening others and himself.

The Washington County Major Crimes Team, made up of detectives from several different local agencies, is still investigating the death.

Tom Brian of the Washington County Board of Commissioners was not available for comment, but in a letter signed by four other commissioners and published in The Oregonian on Thursday, he asks the public to patiently wait for the investigation to be done.

Commissioners, he writes, are "respectful of the difficult decisions law enforcement officers must make every day to ensure our safety."

But because of misleading comments from law enforcement, Peterson said, the Glenn family has "lost confidence in Washington County's ability to perform the full and fair investigation that has been promised to the public."

Now, he said, "the Glenns do not believe a grand jury proceeding alone will fully and fairly address the circumstances of Luke's death . . . the grand jury proceeding is also not transparent as it is conducted entirely in secret."

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - 10/5/06

2006-10-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

Be patient during probe
We are all saddened by the death of Lukus Glenn, and our hearts go out to his family. We are also respectful of the difficult decisions that law enforcement officers from all agencies must make every day to ensure our safety.

As readers may know, an investigation about the Metzger shooting is under way by the district attorney's office and the Washington County Major Crimes Team. Highly experienced detectives from a half-dozen law enforcement agencies in Washington County, under the leadership of the district attorney, are thoroughly gathering and analyzing all available information about this tragic incident.

Like everyone else concerned about the loss of a life and the impact of such an incident on the family of the young man, as well as the deputies and their families, we must await the results of the district attorney's review. The district attorney's function is limited to determining whether any criminal charges are warranted as a result of anyone's conduct in connection with this incident and whether to present the case to a grand jury.

The sheriff and his staff also carefully review every incident involving the use of force by deputies. They examine whether existing policies are followed; they will determine whether policy changes are needed and work to ensure that deputies have access to all the resources and equipment needed to successfully resolve such incidents without resorting to deadly force if possible. Through this effort, they will also identify lessons learned that can be included in the regular use-of-force training received by all deputies.

Please join us in patiently waiting for the time necessary to obtain the results of these thorough and impartial investigations.

Chairman Tom Brian and the Washington County Board of Commissioners

LETTERS - 10/5/06

2006-10-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

County examines death

We are saddened by the death of Lukus Glenn and our hearts go out to his family. We are also respectful of the difficult decisions law enforcement officers must make every day to ensure our safety.

An investigation about the shooting is under way by the district attorney's office and the Washington County Major Crimes Team. Experienced detectives from a half-dozen law enforcement agencies, under the leadership of the Washington County district attorney, are analyzing information about this tragic incident.

Like everyone else concerned about the loss of a life and the impact on the family of the young man as well as the deputies and their families, we must await results of the review. The district attorney is limited to determining whether criminal charges are warranted and whether to present the case to a grand jury.

The sheriff and his staff also carefully review every incident involving the use of force by deputies. They examine whether policies are followed; they will determine whether policy changes are needed and work to ensure that deputies have access to resources and equipment needed to resolve such incidents without resorting to deadly force if possible. They will also identify lessons learned that can be included in the regular use-of-force training received by all deputies.

Please join us in patiently waiting for the time necessary to obtain the results of these thorough and impartial investigations.

Chairman Tom Brian

co-signed by four county

commissioners

Washington County Board

of Commissioners

High alcohol level in youth killed by police

2006-10-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Dana Tims

SUMMARY: Autopsy No other drugs are found in Lukus Glenn, and the case might be headed to a grand jury
Lukus Glenn's blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit when he was shot and killed by two Washington County sheriff's deputies Sept. 16, according to a deputy state medical examiner.

Glenn, an 18-year-old former high school soccer and football star, had a blood alcohol level of .18 at the time of his death, said Dr. Larry Lewman. Oregon's legal limit is .08.

Additional toxicology tests showed that the Tigard-area teen had no other prescription or illegal drugs in his system at the time of the shooting, Lewman said.

An autopsy showed that two of the eight bullets that struck Glenn inflicted fatal injuries by severing large pelvic arteries. Non-fatal shots also struck Glenn in the legs, buttocks, lower back and right shoulder, Lewman said.

Meanwhile, a Washington County prosecutor said Tuesday that he will decide early next week whether to present facts surrounding the early morning shooting to a grand jury.

Rob Bletko, the county's chief deputy district attorney, said all investigative reports detailing Glenn's shooting should be on his desk as early as Friday.

Bletko said he will review the reports for several days before deciding either to ask for more information or take the case directly to a grand jury for possible criminal indictments. He said he could also conclude that the reports are sufficient, but that a grand jury presentation isn't warranted.

Among the topics Bletko hopes to see covered in the investigative documents is where Glenn obtained the alcohol he drank prior to the shooting.

Two Washington County sheriff's deputies, responding to a frantic 9-1-1 call for help from Glenn's mother, shot the young man after he refused to drop the knife he was holding and headed back into his house, which contained family members.

Only 10 minutes elapsed from the time Hope Glenn called police at 3:05 a.m. and the time her son lay dead near the family's front door step. Lukus Glenn was described by family members as extremely distraught and inebriated in the minutes leading up to the shooting.

In a related item, the Wilson High School girls soccer team has raised more than $3,000 through sales of T-shirts bearing the word HOPE --Help Officers Peacefully Enforce --in part to memorialize Lukus Glenn and honor Hope Glenn. Many girls at Wilson High are or have been coached by Hope Glenn. Proceeds from the sales will go to local police agencies to help provide enhanced training in crisis intervention.

The T-shirts will be available on the school's Web site, www.wilsonhs.com, in a day or two, according to school officials.

Police training seems to ensure fatal outcomes

2006-10-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Andy Parker

Ray O'Driscoll's the first to say he's nothing special, just a retired guy with a new hammock and some Old World views of cop work.
He and his wife, Claudia, live in the hills out beyond Colton, a place where thick fingers of moss drip from tree limbs and backyards spill seamlessly into sprawling federal forests.

They moved to Oregon 32 years ago from the Bay Area. They'd tired of all the congestion. And after 12 years of cop work in cities outside San Francisco, Ray was ready for a change.

After a variety of jobs, he spent his last years before retirement as Oregon City's code compliance officer.

During his years as a police officer, O'Driscoll never shot anybody. But he knows what it feels like to break up a bar brawl and wake up later trying to recall what kind of beer bottle hit you.

It was just part of the job, he says, a job where you get paid to take necessary risks. No risks, no gain.

It's a concept he believes is foreign to today's police training.

O'Driscoll likes cops. He's torn about speaking out because he knows how tough the work is. He knows most police officers, even those who kill someone, are just hard-working guys doing what they've been trained to do.

And that's precisely the problem.

In his years of police work in the Bay Area, he knew some cops who shot bad guys, some who got shot. But back in the 1960s and '70s, he says, cops were taught to use their 2-foot-long batons as a defensive tool to defuse potentially violent situations.

It didn't always work. Sometimes you got hurt. But these days, most cops don't even carry batons. It's as if it's all designed so police officers never have to touch anyone and rarely put themselves at risk, he said. And that is a sure way to guarantee more fatal endings to routine incidents.

O'Driscoll wrote a letter to the editor last week about the fatal police shooting of an 18-year-old Tigard man. His letter was responding to a Portland police officer who wrote: "I seriously doubt anyone who is being critical of the Lukus Glenn slaying has ever had to face that kind of situation."

In his response, O'Driscoll wrote, "An officer who has taken the step to end another person's life is hardly an expert on other possible options. . . . And I do believe that three officers facing a drunk teenager with a 3-inch knife could have disarmed him."

To be clear, O'Driscoll doesn't believe his own time as a cop makes him an expert on anything. But it arms him with enough experience to ask reasonable questions that deserve reasonable answers.

We can all recite the outcome of any police-involved shooting:

The internal investigation that finds police followed regulations and clears officers of any wrongdoing.

The grand jury that follows the recommendation of the district attorney and finds no crime has occurred.

The district attorney who refuses to investigate his colleagues any further.

In many police-involved shootings, that outcome is appropriate. But that doesn't explain the shootings. It doesn't explain the training or why we're supposed to believe cops almost never shoot at the wrong time.

O'Driscoll believes nothing will change until voters see a need and demand it. And he isn't holding his breath. "The problem is most people know cops or someone involved in law enforcement. And they know they are good people doing a difficult job."

Understandably, he says, it's the same within the ranks of police officers. "I was the same way. Whenever a cop kills someone in the line of duty, police say two things: 'Thank God I didn't have to pull the trigger.' And 'We've got to stand behind that guy.' "

That seems to sum up our blueprint for ensuring more and more police-involved shootings.

Until law enforcement leaders push for dramatic change, said O'Driscoll, police training will continue to center on protecting innocent bystanders and police at all costs.

"Basically," he said, "the current policy is, 'Shoot first, explain later.' "

600 mourners share in loving celebration of Lukus Glenn's life

2006-10-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Kate Taylor

SUMMARY: 9-1-1 shooting His compassion and smile are recalled, and a HOPE shirt is unveiled
TIGARD --Lukus Glenn's death on Sept. 16 was sudden, violent and followed by anguished questions about how police and community agencies should handle teenagers in crisis.

His memorial on Saturday, by contrast, was empty of such questions and full of memories and images loved ones hold of the 18-year-old football star.

After about 600 people filled Tigard High School's Deb Fennell Auditorium, former coaches and friends spoke of his skills as a kicker as well as his compassion and gift for making people laugh.

Glenn was often late to class, said Scott Gilsdorf, a Tigard High School English teacher. But when he was, Glenn would approach his teacher sheepishly, usually with a mocha for Gilsdorf or a little leftover lunch to share.

As many of Glenn's friends and family laughed in recognition, Gilsdorf said, "He'd always have that great, great smile, and huge, huge dimples." Glenn was always the one with the bag of Doritos and salsa to share in the back of the classroom, his teacher said.

Police --who shot Glenn in the early morning hours after his mother called 9-1-1 to report that he was drunk and threatening himself and others with a knife --were mentioned only on a T-shirt worn and sold by many of his friends at the memorial.

The T-shirt bears the word HOPE and, underneath, the phrase Help Officers Peacefully Enforce. Proceeds from the T-shirt, students and parents said, will go to local police departments to help provide more police officers with training in ending a crisis peaceably.

Two Washington County sheriff's deputies are on routine leave until an investigation is complete. Rob Bletko, Washington County's chief deputy district attorney, said he expects to take one more week before determining whether to present the case to a grand jury.

Several at the memorial talked about how difficult it is to understand how Glenn died. The youth spent the hours leading up to the shooting having dinner with his girlfriend and her parents, going to a football game and then to a party in Tigard.

"If you keep asking yourself that, you can drive yourself crazy," said Frank Geske, one of Glenn's mentors and former coaches. "God's ways are not our ways, and our ways are not God's ways."

One thing Geske has decided to do as a result of his young friend's death, he said, is to make a list of everyone he loves and put a check next to the name of everyone he's said "I love you" to.

"There are some I still need to do," Geske said. "And there is one I want to do (now). Luke, I am proud of you, and Luke, I love you."

Most who took the podium spoke directly to Hope Glenn, Luke Glenn's mother and a longtime soccer coach who had worked with many teens at the memorial. They spoke of how the community must come together and remember to care for her and her husband, Brad Glenn.

Eddie Phillips, a close friend of Luke Glenn's and one of Hope Glenn's soccer students, ended his talk with a poem he'd written for her. As he spoke the poem's last lines, at least 30 young men stood up and turned to her, where she sat with her husband. Then, slowly, the entire auditorium stood and clapped to show her their support.

Hope, it's already done,

I want to tell you that Luke wasn't your only son,

You've helped me grow and helped raise me into a man,

You've been a second mom to me since classic soccer began.

You have so many boys, Hope, even in this room,

We love you so much and I am easily able to assume,

That they all feel like me, and as we talk to each other,

We have so much respect for you,

Are comfortable calling you mother.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - 9/28/06

2006-09-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

Deputy saved son's life
I'd like to share another story involving a depressed young man, too much alcohol, a suicide attempt, a mother's frantic 9-1-1 call and Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Mikhail Gerba.

Early this summer, it was Gerba who responded to our home after my frantic 9-1-1 call. It was Gerba who stayed with our family for three hours, patiently, calmly and compassionately working to find and help our suicidal son. It was Gerba who offered to postpone his vacation, drive to Tillamook in the middle of the night and safely deliver our son to a hospital near our home.

I fully realize that, had a few details been different, I could be the grieving mother, and my heart and prayers go out to the family and friends of Lukus Glenn. But I also want the public to know that Deputy Gerba is the same man whose professionalism, compassion and perseverance helped to save my son's life.

ANNE MARIE OWEN

Beaverton

Heed Portland's police chief on mental health

2006-09-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

SUMMARY: The death of James Philip Chasse Jr. in police custody demands a public inquest,
and a new preventative strategy

To some, it may have sounded like an excuse. The recent death of James Philip Chasse Jr., a 42-year-old mentally ill Portlander, while in police custody put Police Chief Rosie Sizer on the defensive, after all. She's at another disadvantage, too: She's not yet able to share all the facts surrounding Chasse's death.

Still, the chief was right Monday to remind us about the larger context surrounding this death: our broken mental health care system. Constantly dealing with the mentally ill is part of the "burden . . . police officers carry with them each and every

day . . . to an extent unprecedented in my 21-year tenure in the Police Bureau," Sizer said.

But that's not an excuse, and Sizer wasn't wielding it that way.

Sizer has promised to make the police investigation into Chasse's death public as soon as possible. That's good, but as we've argued for years, any death at police hands or in police custody also demands a public inquest. Both Chasse's death in custody and another recent death in the area --the police shooting of Lukus Glenn, 18, of Tigard --underscore why a public inquest is always essential.

For the public, both of these deaths instinctively fall into the category of: "This shouldn't have happened." Both Glenn's and Chasse's families deserve a full public airing of the facts. And only a public inquest can elucidate the circumstances sufficiently to rebuild a foundation of public trust and confidence in the law enforcement agencies involved.

But invaluable as public inquests would be in these cases, Oregon needs a more proactive strategy for dealing with the mentally ill (Chasse) and those in crisis (Glenn). These two recent deaths strongly suggest that it's time to consider mandating intensive training in crisis intervention and in dealing with the mentally ill for patrol officers.

True, some get a few hours of training now, and some agencies provide more intensive training on a voluntary basis. (With 188 officers certified in crisis intervention, Portland is one of the leaders in this field.) It's also important to emphasize that no training program can eliminate such tragic deaths. At times, events spin out of control and police must act to protect themselves and the public.

But teaching police smarter, safer, low-key approaches to dealing with the mentally ill and people in crisis could save lives. And police careers, too. "The officers were devastated" by Chasse's death, the chief said Tuesday. "This is not the outcome they desired or expected."

Although it would be expensive to train all officers intensively to intervene with the mentally ill, Portland and other police agencies need to start calculating the cost, making the pitch and pushing for such intensive training, not just for new officers, but for police bureau veterans, too.

Police shouldn't shoulder so much of the burden of dealing with the mentally ill and those in crisis, but, as Sizer acknowledged this week, they often do. As long as they make up the front line in dealing with people in these situations, it would be better for everyone --the officers, and the community --if police really knew what to do.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - 9/27/2006

2006-09-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

Roiling over police shootings
As I read the articles and letters surrounding the shooting death of Lukus Glenn, a few things occurred to me.

Glenn's GPA, polite demeanor and football skills are irrelevant. His mom called 9-1-1 to report that her son was "out of control" and "threatening to kill everybody." She also informed a dispatcher that her son was "threatening to kill himself . . .." These were the facts the police officers were faced with.

One letter writer mentioned the use of tranquilizer darts, as are used on lions and grizzly bears. Would you prefer a gun or tranquilizer dart if you were being charged by a lion or bear, say, at 20 feet? Would you feel confident the dart would have its desired effect?

It is important not to confuse speculation with facts. It is easy for us to react emotionally with our two cents. But the fact is, in this case, police were given only four minutes and limited yet critical information.

Ultimately, he was shot as he approached the front door of his home with a knife --the same front door that was protecting his mom and her family, [after he had] threatened to kill them.

DENNIS J. ORTEGA

Tualatin

The recent killings of citizens by the Portland and Washington County police can, at best, only be labeled as gross incompetence, and flat-out outrageous.

The excessive blunt trauma to James Philip Chasse Jr., who was severely mentally ill, has provoked strong protests from eyewitnesses. The shooting of 18-year-old Lukus Glenn, who was drunk and suicidal but armed with only with a small pocket knife, was totally unnecessary and demonstrates abysmal police training in handling mentally disturbed individuals.

Only luck prevented the wounding or death of Glenn's 72-year-old grandmother from police bullets that penetrated the family's house.

I have been watching numerous "Animal Planet" shows in which Steve Irwin and his staff were able to totally control massive, ferocious, man-eating crocodiles, armed only with ropes and netting. I strongly suggest that all police squad cars be equipped with ropes and nets for these type of confrontations.

ALAN B. LACHMAN, M.D.

Beaverton

In the Sunday Opinion section, a retired Portland police officer, Jim Bellah, wrote, "I seriously doubt anyone who is being critical [of the Lukus Glenn slaying] has ever had to face that kind of situation."

I have faced that kind of situation several times, and I am very thankful that I did not kill the person who was wielding the knife. I can sleep at night. An officer who has taken the step to end another person's life is hardly an expert on other possible options.

As a police officer for many years during the turbulent 1960s and '70s in a major metropolitan area, I faced and dealt with drunks with knives, and not-so-drunks with guns. I do not feel that makes me an expert, either, but I do believe that three officers facing a drunk teenager with a three-inch knife could have disarmed him without killing him, without getting cut themselves, and most surely not risking death.

Glenn is dead because two officers chose to shoot him and end his young life. There has to be a better way.

RAY O'DRISCOLL

Colton

Crisis intervention training is too critical to be voluntary. It must be part of a police officer's regular training. Legislators, taxpayers, the powers that be --all must see that each officer is provided crisis intervention training.

JEAN MITCHELL

Northeast Portland

Questions "go on and on" about the Lukus Glenn case (Sunday front page) because The Oregonian keeps raising questions, on and on.

The officers involved had to make a snap judgment that may have saved the lives of the other family members. Had they not fired and further violence ensued, would not the officers have faced questions about why they had not stopped Glenn?

We should all support the officers who did absolutely the best they could in this tragedy. Let the questions --and columnists --be stilled and allow everyone to grieve.

DAVID A. FLOREA

Donald

The standoff lasted 4 minutes, but the questions go on and on

2006-09-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Kate Taylor and Dana Tims

SUMMARY: The police shooting of Lukus Glenn, 18, has both loved ones and authorities trying to find answers
On Lukus Glenn's last day, he and his mother argued about the job he had just quit, but made up later with playful text messages.

He was polite at dinner with his girlfriend and her parents, but brooding at a football game, talking with friends how his high school football career had soured.

When he took his girlfriend home at 12:30 a.m., he kissed her hand and told her he trusted her enough to tell her that, now and then, he felt so low he thought of killing himself.

Hours later, the 18-year-old former football star at Tigard High School was dead, shot during a standoff with police in front of his Tigard-area home Sept. 16.

It was a brief, violent convergence of forces --a drunken, suicidal teen with a knife and police who stake their lives on the procedures they follow. When domestic-violence situations escalate to the point that police face knives and guns, they are trained to stop the threat and protect innocent bystanders.

But across the Portland area, police increasingly are adopting a new model of crisis intervention that has shown remarkable success at defusing violent encounters. The Memphis model emphasizes "active listening" to the pain released by a person in mental crisis and recognizes that such episodes probably involve severe depression and psychic breaks with reality.

There is no way to know whether that approach would have made a difference in the case of Lukus Glenn. What began as a yelling match with three officers escalated into the fatal shooting in just four minutes.

No simple explanation satisfies. Questions linger. As do stories of a loving, and loved, teenager with problems and three police officers who grew up dreaming of public service, stepping into a tragic nightmare.

Remembering

a soulful friend

In the past week, family and friends have mourned the beautiful, as well as the troubled, sides of Luke Glenn.

He was his dad's fishing and Yahtzee partner. He was the one who called his mother "Skerniffles" --a pet name he made up --and text-messaged her sometimes 30 times a day to make jokes or tell her what he was doing or what kind of food he wanted in the pantry, his parents said.

Sitting on the living room couch where she's spent most of her time since her son was shot, Hope Glenn said she'd been his soccer coach for years, beginning when he was 5, and that he still watched many of the soccer games she coached.

He was funny and unpredictable in a lovable way, said Tony Morales and David Lucas --the two close friends who witnessed the shooting. He puppy-tackled friends, and he could lighten up any situation with one of his jokes, but he was also a great listener, Morales said.

To his girlfriend, 17-year-old Beth Salzberg, he was soulful and supportive, she said.

"You know how it is when you're a girl --there's times you don't feel like you look good, you feel bloaty. . . . He would be like, 'There is only one way for you to look, and that is perfect,' " she said. "He made me feel like a million bucks. He was a good, good person. I miss so much about him."

Yet nobody who was truly close to Glenn denied that he struggled. He liked vodka mixed with energy drinks, and he drank a lot of what he called "Sparks," friends said.

"He really did drink a lot --he did it less around me," Salzberg said. "When I talked to my friends about it, they still said, 'He's a keeper.' "

Sometimes, he also cut into his arms with a knife, or got a friend to cut him, while he pointed out to whoever was around that he could withstand pain, friends and relatives said.

He'd argued plenty with his mother in the past year, and once she called the police to her home after he ran away. He returned before police arrived, she said.

His depression, friends and family say, began with the departure of a beloved coach who supported him and was essential to his record-breaking performance as a kicker in his junior year.

Back then, he was featured in an August 2005 community newspaper article, with a picture of him running across a sunlit field after a great kick. He's quoted as dreaming about being a kicker for Arizona State University.

But he left the team last fall and had brooded about it ever since. He never got the football scholarship he'd dreamed of, his mother said, and as many of his friends went off to college this year, "he felt like a failure."

Still, she thought he was leaving the problem behind as he learned more about the world outside football, at least until she saw him through the window of her house, blood-streaked with a knife at his throat.

She picked up the phone at 3:05 a.m. Sept. 16 and dialed 9-1-1.

Six minutes later, Washington County sheriff's Deputy Mikhail Gerba, 27, arrived at a chaotic scene, followed quickly by Deputy Timothy Mateski, 26, and Tigard police Officer Andrew Pastore, 29.

Altar boy grows

into police officer

Growing up in Portland, Gerba dreamed of being a police officer. In high school, he enjoyed nothing more than going on "ride-alongs" with local cops.

"From the start, that's all he wanted to do," said his grandmother, Wynema Gerba. "He always said it was the best way he could help people."

His mother, Diana, named him Mikhail to underscore her love of ballet, associating it with Russia's grand tradition of dance.

Before his family moved to Wilsonville in the early 1990s, he served as an acolyte, or altar server, at St. Peter & Paul Episcopal Church in Southeast Portland, his grandmother said. "The move meant he couldn't hold that position in that church any longer," she said. "He was so brokenhearted that he cried."

After high school, his eyes already set on a career in law enforcement, Gerba took criminal justice classes at Clackamas Community College's Wilsonville campus. Classmates there remember him as a standout student with a winning sense of humor.

"He was very excited about his future," said one classmate, who asked that her name not be used. "I never had any doubt that he was getting into law enforcement for the very best of reasons."

Little information on the two deputies' careers is available. Washington County law enforcement officials, citing the ongoing investigation into Glenn's death, have declined to release information detailing any commendations or demerits.

Others, familiar with the plights of police who have had to use deadly force on the job, say the pair's path back to patrol will be arduous.

If their actions in Glenn's death are upheld after review, the officers must undergo counseling as well as simulation training proving they can again pull the trigger in the line of duty.

"These are frequently career-ending events for police who take someone's life," said Don Rosen, director of residency training in OHSU's psychiatry department. "It's important to note that the tragedy for the family is also a tragedy for the officers."

Standoff spirals

out of control

Only 10 minutes elapsed between the time Hope Glenn called 9-1-1 for help and when her son lay dead.

She told a dispatcher that her son was threatening to kill himself and everyone in the house. That included her, her mother and Brad Glenn, the young man's father.

Her son was outside smashing her car's windows with a shovel, cutting his hands in the process. Two friends were trying to calm him down.

"You kill me or I kill me," Luke Glenn shouted as Gerba, Mateski and Pastore approached.

The officers yelled repeatedly at Glenn to drop the knife, a plastic-handled weapon with a serrated, hooked, 3-inch blade.

He bellowed back that they would have to kill him.

"Don't let them shoot him," Hope Glenn pleaded with the dispatcher. "Please don't let them shoot him."

Pastore had access to a Taser and beanbags --both nonlethal weapons. With Luke Glenn apparently retreating toward the house, where the family members he'd threatened to kill were standing inside, Pastore opted for the beanbags --considered a higher level of force than a Taser. He fired several rounds from his 12-gauge shotgun, striking the young man.

The impacts sent Glenn reeling against the garage, but he remained on his feet. He swiveled toward the house, his left side facing the officers. Less than two seconds later, the emergency dispatcher could hear the crackle of repeated gunfire, then nothing.

"Hope?" the 9-1-1 operator asks.

There was no reply.

"Hope?"

Assessing actions

and alternatives

The investigation into Glenn's death is just beginning.

Rob Bletko, Washington County's chief deputy district attorney, won't have reports for at least a week and will take another week before determining whether to present the case to a grand jury.

Already Glenn's death is raising questions about the amount of crisis intervention training that law enforcement officers receive.

In Oregon, few police departments have had formal training in crisis intervention for longer than five years. Such training is almost always voluntary.

Washington County, like a growing number of jurisdictions, employs the increasingly popular Memphis model, adopted by police in Memphis, Tenn., after a controversial shooting.

Washington County's new hires all undergo an initial four-hour training session, said Deputy Jason Leinenbach, the department's mental health liaison. Annual 24-hour classes updating the training are voluntary. Countywide, more than 100 deputies and officers have taken the classes, he said.

Clark County, by comparison, offers a 40-hour annual crisis intervention class. Sgt. Kathy McNicholas, the county's crisis intervention trainer, said instances in which force has been used against out-of-control people have declined markedly in the five years the county has used the program.

Washington County officials said neither Gerba nor Mateski had taken the department's voluntary course on crisis intervention.

Leinenbach declined to speculate whether officers who had taken the 24-hour class would have responded to the Glenn incident any differently from those who hadn't. But he added, "I'd hope they would do things differently, but I can't say they necessarily would. Even if you start out doing things differently, you might end up with the same outcome in the end."

With police nationwide encountering a growing number of mentally ill people on the streets, much more training can only help, said Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Institute at Minnesota State University at Mankato.

"We offer a 90-hour class, which we consider just the bare bones of what's really needed," Lewinski said. "Most departments don't even come close to that level."

Making sense

of tragedy

There's nowhere for Hope Glenn to look in her home without seeing her son. Her living room is full of pictures: infant Luke in the tub with his dad, 5-year-old Luke in his first soccer uniform. Luke, smiling in a field with his puppy Brandon, now a large, friendly golden retriever.

She doesn't know where to begin again, she says.

"That was my only son," she says. "I don't know what to do with myself."

"I don't know why it happened," she says in the low whisper that has replaced her usually vibrant voice. "Maybe something will change because of this. Maybe something will start to make more sense."

OBITUARIES - 9/24/2006

2006-09-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

Lukus David 'Luke' Glenn
from The Oregonian

A memorial service will be at noon Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, in the Deb Fennell Auditorium of Tigard High School for Lukus David "Luke" Glenn, who died Sept. 16 when he was shot by police. He was 18.

Mr. Glenn was born April 22, 1988, in Portland. He graduated from Tigard High School, where he was an all-conference kicker for the football team. He liked soccer and played for several leagues.

Survivors include his parents, Brad and Hope; and grandparents, Delores Larson and Mike Glenn.

Arrangements by Young's.

Deputies rarely drew guns, fired twice in 2005

2006-09-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Wendy Owen

Washington County sheriff's deputies pulled their guns 404 times last year and fired twice, wounding a man in one case and hitting a car while shooting at a suspect in another.
On average, officers pulled their guns more than once a day. With 5,190 arrests in 2005, however, that means deputies drew their firearms in about 8 percent of those cases, according to a Washington County Sheriff's Office use of force analysis.

"The odds of displaying a gun are remote," sheriff's Sgt. John Black said.

When it is pulled, however, a firearm typically resolves the situation without being used, he said.

The exception over the past five years, according to The Oregonian archives, appears to be cases involving suicidal people. Deputies have shot and killed four people, including Lukus Glenn, since 2002, and nearly all were determined to be suicidal.

In 2002, a Washington County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a 38-year-old man in Hillsboro after a two-hour standoff. Daniel L. Flannigan was distraught over a breakup with his girlfriend and threatened to kill her and himself. Police found him outside her apartment with a gun that later turned out to be a pellet gun. When he walked toward officers, a sniper shot him.

In 2003, a Beaverton police officer and a Washington County sergeant each fired on and killed a 37-year-old gunman who had fired more than 30 times during a standoff with police after they were called to the address because of a suicidal man.

The officers were members of the county Tactical Negotiations Team.

In 2004, a Cedar Mill man was shot and killed in a similar scenario, although it was not officially determined to be a suicidal incident.

Neighbors called police after hearing explosions and seeing Warren D. Sercombe, 46, breaking windows in front of his home. Deputies saw a handgun on the roof of his car and ordered him to lie on the ground. Instead, he reached for the gun and a corporal shot him. Officers later found explosive cord in his waistband and boot.

Last year ended with no officer-involved shooting deaths in Washington County.

How the shooting unfolded

2006-09-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

When police arrived at the Glenn home Sept. 16, it was dark and the side door was only about 10 feet from the garage where Lukus Glenn, already blooded from smashing car windows, stood. Experts say such close proximity contributed to the incident. Police are trained to keep at least 20 to 25 feet between themselves and an armed person.
Hope Glenn called police at 3:05 a.m. requesting help calming her drunken 18-year-old son, Lukus, who she told dispatchers was "out of control." About 10 minutes elapsed between her call to police and the shooting. Based on the police, 9-1-1 tapes and witness accounts, here's what happened in the last eight minutes.

1) 3:07 a.m. Hope Glenn, who's looking out a door window, tells the dispatcher her son is "bleeding pretty bad" after smashing windows with his hands. She says his two friends, David Lucas and Tony Morales, are trying to calm him.

3:10 a.m. Hope Glenn says her son, holding a knife to his throat, says he's not going down without killing someone.

2) 3:11 a.m. Two deputies from the Washington County Sheriff's Office, Mikhail Gerba and Timothy Mateski, arrive at the home and take up positions in the yard. Tigard Officer Andrew Pastore arrives, equipped with a nonlethal beanbag weapon.

3:13 a.m. Lukus Glenn stands at the corner of the garage. Hope Glenn says "They're telling him to drop the knife or they're going to shoot him."

3) 3:15 a.m. Pastore fires several beanbag rounds at Lukus Glenn, who slumps against the garage but otherwise appears unaffected.

4) Lukus Glenn moves toward the door of the home, 10 feet away, where the family is inside.

5) Gerba and Mateski fire their guns, and Lukus Glenn collapses at the doorstep. Hope Glenn tells the dispatcher, "They shot him." The dispatcher calls Hope Glenn's name over and over, but there is no answer.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - 9/24/06

2006-09-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

The Lukus Glenn shooting: Did he have to die?

Use training instead

I graduated from the Portland Police Academy and the Oregon Police Academy and retired after 25 years as a police administrator. I'm writing about young Lukus Glenn.

As a deputy sheriff, I responded to a call of a man holding a shotgun on his family. Upon arrival, I found just that. His wife and five children were hysterical. I was able to get his attention on me and away from his family.

I could have shot him immediately before he turned on me. But it was likely that a bullet might strike the family. I used my training instead to talk the man into surrendering his shotgun.

Today, that man is a teacher and still married to the same woman. He could have easily shot me, but he didn't. I could have shot him, but I didn't.

I'm not saying the Washington County deputies shouldn't have shot Glenn; what I am saying is that it's every police officer's call. But given the particulars of that incident, I would not have fired upon a young lad who, when faced with yelling police, tried his best to return to the safety of his mother, while armed with nothing but a simple pocket knife.

JAMES TAYLOR

Southeast Portland

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - 9/21/06

2006-09-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

There are questions surrounding the death of Lukus Glenn.
I saw, firsthand, what police can do when they are well trained to handle a crisis. A woman who lived across the hall from me in Minneapolis attacked her husband with an 8-inch butcher knife. Three armed officers arrived. She stood there, not 25 feet but two feet from them. They talked to her, calmly.

Finally, after five tense minutes, she whirled and fled toward the back of the room, and one quickly tackled her. None of those men, who were within inches of a large knife, even once touched their guns or a Taser.

The cops in Garden Home used loud commands on a scared, drunk boy. I think a calm attitude might have made all the difference. Crisis training should include communication training to defuse, not aggravate such situations.

BRINN C. HEMMINGSON

Southeast Portland

It seems rather bizarre that a middle-aged nurse can single-handedly wrestle a claw hammer away from an intruder and strangle him to death, but three cops needed to shoot and kill a teenager [armed] with a three-inch knife.

Of course we will hear that "you had to be there." Apparently several people were, and I hope that this sort of stupidity on the part of those sworn to protect us is not blown off and therefore legally sanctioned.

DAN W. PETERSON

Northeast Portland

I have been deeply saddened by the senseless death of Lukus Glenn by Washington County sheriff's deputies. As a mental health professional and board member of the Clark County chapter of NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill), I know how often families are faced with these terrifying emergencies and how quickly they can escalate out of control. All persons involved are vulnerable to serious injury and death.

In Vancouver, the city police department operates an intensive week-long crisis intervention training twice each year. It is highly lauded as an effective preventative to scenarios that seem to be playing out frequently across the river.

I urge police administrators in Oregon to implement something similar. I am convinced Vancouver's crisis intervention training program saves lives.

MICHELE WOLLERT

Vancouver

For once I'd like to see someone come to the defense of an officer involved in a shooting. Imagine working a job where you could be shot over a speeding ticket. Imagine a job where you know going into it that some day you might have to choose in a split second to take someone's life in order to spare someone else's or your own.

How many of us can say we'd make the perfect decision every time? I can't, and it's unreasonable to put that expectation on our police officers.

Give them the benefit of the doubt before criticizing them. After all, these are the same people we call in our times of greatest need, and these are the people who come running to help because it is their job to protect and serve.

JUSTIN FARRELL

North Portland

Most people are naive as to what constitutes reasonable and necessary force used by police officers. I am a retired criminology professor and 27-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department.

One citizen wrote that the suspect was "armed only with a knife" (Letters, Sept. 19). Interestingly, one of the most horrific knifings I ever witnessed was at the hands of a 19-year-old male using a two-inch pocket knife.

Many people believe that police officers can simply shoot the knife or gun from the hand of a perpetrator, ending the threat. Other than luck, this only happens in the movies.

Police officers receive many hours of training on the use of force and many more hours dedicated to the use of deadly force. Police officers do not, however, receive training on how to be gallantly killed. This then begs the question: What were the obligations or choices of the suspect when ordered to drop the knife? Did the suspect have a right or duty to ignore or resist the officers? Or did the suspect's conduct dictate the actions of the officers?

If the type of weapon or its size is still a barrier of justification for you, just remember what kind of weapon the terrorists used to take over the 9/11 flights.

STEPHEN E. BROWN

Roseburg

Helping cops deal with all the chaos

2006-09-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Steve Duin

In 1987, the city of Memphis was rocked by a police shooting as tragic and pointless as the death early Saturday morning of 18-year-old Lukus Glenn.
The 27-year-old victim had a knife. He was cutting himself and threatening family members. He was also mentally ill, and the Memphis police, ill-equipped to deal with that population, shot him more than enough times to end his life.

"The outcry," Major Sam Cochran of the Memphis Police told National Public Radio last year, "was so intense, it spilled over into the political arena." The mayor got involved. A task force was formed.

And said Officer Paul Ware of the Portland Police Bureau --the University of Tennessee Psychiatric Hospital stepped up with suggestions on how the police could better deal with the mentally ill in crisis situations. For the safety of everyone involved.

The suggestions were so on target that police-inflicted injuries to mental health patients in Memphis dropped 40 percent in less than four years.

In a front-page story Wednesday, several law enforcement types suggested the fatal shooting of Lukus Glenn by two Washington County sheriff's deputies was "by the book."

A 1987 book, perhaps. An updated manual based on the Memphis model is making the rounds, said Angela Kimball of the Association for Oregon Community Health Programs, and a number of police bureaus and county sheriffs long ago memorized the chapter on crisis intervention.

That includes the Portland Police Bureau, where Ware coordinates the training program. You may remember Ware. In January 2005 --on National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Day, as a matter of fact --Ware confronted a knife-wielding man in the state Senate chamber and spent 45 minutes talking the guy down off the proverbial ledge.

Ware has set up a voluntary 40-hour program in crisis intervention; he estimates one-quarter of the city's patrol officers have undergone training in mental disorders, personality disorders (including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), suicide prevention, hostage negotiations and post-traumatic stress disorder.

That program is embraced, said defense attorney Laura Graser, by all the major players in law enforcement and mental health because it reduces the incidents that "cause everyone pain, including the police officers."

By all accounts, Glenn was simply drunk, depressed and angry early Saturday when he set out on the rampage that forced his mother, Hope, to call 9-1-1. But as Graser says, "I don't know if it matters whether it was genetics, alcohol, methamphetamines, poor nurturing . . .: He was acting crazy. When that 9-1-1 call came in, it could have dispatched someone with the training to deal with the mentally ill."

The Washington County Sheriff's Office also has voluntary crisis intervention training for its deputies, but spokesman Dave Thompson said the two officers who responded Saturday --Deputies Mikhail Gerba and Timothy Mateski --have not taken the course.

Ware said there's no guarantee, however, that additional training --which mandates "the most effective and compassionate response possible" --would have saved Glenn's life.

"I try to slow down the situation. I try to contain the person. I try to talk to them about what the problem is," Ware said, but it would have been difficult to have a quiet, calm conversation with Glenn while honoring the "21-foot-rule," the margin of safety officers maintain when confronting someone with a knife.

"Crisis intervention training increases the odds of me having a successful intervention," Ware said, "but I can't control human behavior. I don't know the Jedi mind trick. People put that burden on us. People have seen too much Hollywood hype."

Letters to the Editor

2006-09-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

Police reacted properly
I am appalled at the condemnation of the Washington County sheriff's deputies who shot Lukus Glenn (Letters, Sept. 19). Based on The Oregonian's reporting, I can fault these two officers only for not shooting sooner and thereby letting Glenn get closer to the house (resulting in the trajectory of the bullets penetrating the house).

Ideas suggested such as "shoot at the legs" and "(b)ring out the Tasers" indicate a warehouse of ignorance by the writers.

The effective killing range of a knife is about 21 feet. The legs are extremely hard to hit if the target is moving, especially with the adrenaline factor going, and a hit in the legs is less likely to stop the target.

Rules of engagement are always to shoot for the torso. If a situation such as this ever occurs at my house, the conduct exhibited by these two officers is exactly what I would want.

LYNDON GRAHAM, Hillsboro

+++

Reading all the criticism in Tuesday's issue about the shooting of the young man from Tigard reminds me that law enforcement is probably the only career that a person can enter in which, even after hundreds of hours of training, the public knows more about how to do your job than you do.

LARRY A. WARD, Gresham

+++

A great kid under the influence of a drug --alcohol --acting out his frustrations. But wait, he's only 18! Why was he drunk to begin with? Where were the parents? Where's the accountability from the place he got his booze?

Lukus Glenn made a choice to be drunk. The police reacted in an appropriate manner considering the threat they faced and the resources they had available.

MARK KOBERSTEIN, Boring

+++

Regarding Steve Duin's column, "The last turn in the life of Lukus Glenn" (Sept. 19), have you ever spent an evening with Damon Coates or his wife and children?

I am an "ex-hippie" from the 1960s, a mother of four children ranging from 18 to 25 years, an educator with extensive experience with youth, and I do not own a gun. My heart goes out to those involved in the latest tragedy.

However, after having met Coates and his family, I would ask you: "After the crippling injuries of Damon Coates, what police officer could be expected to answer a domestic violence call involving a troubled teen?"

JEANNE KENDRICK KING, Southwest Portland

Police shooting: 'by the book'

2006-09-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Dana Tims

SUMMARY: Deadly force Experts say officers responded as they were trained to the knife-wielding teen
The shooting death of an 18-year-old man unfolded with Washington County sheriff's deputies following current training procedures, authorities say.

Though tragic, the officers' response was by the book, say law enforcement officers in Oregon and across the nation.

Anyone wielding a knife and standing within 25 feet of a police officer, as Lukus Glenn of the Tigard area was, is considered an imminent threat, according to uniformly accepted training principles.

An assailant can cover that distance in just over one second and sink a knife into an officer's chest before the officer can even draw a gun, police experts say.

"It appears to have been very much by the book," said Geoffrey Alpert, chairman and professor in the department of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina. "In this case, the use of deadly force to save people inside that house seems to have been reasonable."

But the Glenn shooting early Saturday has also raised questions anew whether current police training for use of deadly force is sufficient.

State Sen. Avel Gordly, whose bill addressing use of deadly force by law enforcement officers died in the last legislative session, said the training book may not be enough. She agreed that Glenn's death was a tragedy, but emphasized that increased training for police officers could help prevent such instances in the future.

"It's all about the training," Gordly said. "And the point is that barbers and hairdressers receive more training than our police officers."

Threat level

Police are trained to assess levels of threat and react based on that assessment, said Bob Charpentier, an Oregon State Police trooper assigned to the training section. Standard training says that you respond to a threat level with a level deemed one step higher on a seven-step "force matrix."

The first, or lowest step, is an officer's presence. It involves just showing up at a scene. The seventh entails use of deadly force against an assailant who is deemed imminently liable to kill or seriously injure either the officer or one or more bystanders.

In between are use of verbal commands; hands-on manipulation, such as grabbing an elbow to escort an assailant; use of chemical agents, such as pepper spray; empty-hand strikes, such as hooks or straight punches; and use of impacts weapons, including beanbags or Tasers.

In Glenn's case, deputies initially used loud verbal commands, telling him to drop the knife he was holding. When he refused, they shot him with non-lethal beanbags.When he then turned and started back into his house, where family members were looking on, deputies opened fire, hitting him multiple times and killing him.

Representatives of police agencies throughout the metro area were emphatic about not wanting to comment specifically about Glenn's death. But they spoke openly about their respective departments' training regimens, which for the most part come straight from textbooks taught nationwide on how and when force can be used by officers.

"The person representing the threat has the advantage because they dictate the amount of force to be used," said Lt. Jason Gates, public information officer for the Portland Police Bureau. "If that threat becomes imminent to the police officer or someone else, we have the obligation to neutralize that threat as best we can."

Unlike confrontational situations so often portrayed in movies or on television, police never try to shoot a weapon out of an assailant's hand or aim for an extremity, Charpentier said.

"In high-stress situations, the first thing to go out the window are the fine motor reflexes," he said. "That's why you have instances where many, many shots are fired and not a single one ends up hitting the target.

"We don't shoot to wound the person, and we don't shoot to kill the person," Charpentier continued. "We shoot to stop the threat. And the best way to do that is to shoot the center mass."

The aftermath

Sgt. Craig Hogman, who works in the Clark County Sheriff's Office, knows only too well the stress of a high-stakes confrontation. Fleeing bank robbers shot at his pursuing patrol car multiple times in 1997. After they crashed their vehicle and continued firing, deputies ended up killing two of the suspects and later captured the other.

Hogman said he never felt nervous or afraid during the confrontation itself. He credited long hours of training with preparing him for the ordeal. Only later, he said, did the enormity of the experience begin to take its toll.

"Until you've been out there, you just can't fathom the number of decisions you have to make in a split second," Hogman said.

Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University in Boston, was among the thousands of people who listened to the 9-1-1 call made by Lukus Glenn's mother to emergency dispatchers. It was clear, he said, that Glenn had committed "suicide by cop."

The challenge ahead, for police, will be persuading investigators that the knife Glenn possessed presented an imminent danger to family members in the house.

"If he had refused to lower a handgun or a rifle, there would have been little, if any, controversy as to proper police tactics," Levin said. "A review board will have to determine whether the pocket knife carried by the assailant was a realistic threat to the police or whether one of the officers reacted reflexively to his magnified perception of imminent danger."

Whether more training could have helped avoid the death appears likely to be debated.

As a legislator, Gordly helped institute increases in the amount of training all new Oregon law enforcement officers get, particularly as it relates to mental health issues.

But even with those increases, she said, the 16 weeks of academy training Oregon's law enforcement recruits will get starting in January --up from the current standard of 10 weeks --will still lag far behind the national average of 21 weeks.

"We need to focus on the amount and quality of training our officers are getting," she said. "These situations are going to happen, we know that. The more options we provide to law enforcement professionals, the more tools they'll have in the tool box."

Photo shows knife Lukus Glenn was holding during confrontation with police

2006-09-19T22:58:00.000-07:00

from KATU.com

Police have released a photo of the knife that 18-year-old Lukus Glenn was holding during a confrontation with officers that ended with his death.

The incident happened around 3 a.m. Saturday at a home on Southwest 80th and Birch in Washington County.

According to police, Lukus Glenn, a former Tigard High School football player who graduated last spring, was armed with the knife and was acting in an irrational manner.

The knife had a blade that was about three inches long.

On Monday, police released the 911 call from the teenager's mother, Hope Glenn.

"He just keeps threatening to kill everybody," she is heard saying during the 911 call. "He's just not in the right head. He says when the cops get here, he's going to stab himself in the neck."

According to Sgt. David Thompson with the Washington County Sheriff's Office, four deputies fired non-lethal beanbag rounds at Glenn, but he refused to disarm. They then fired at him with real ammunition, killing him.

Since the shooting, concern has grown in the community about whether the deputies who fired on Glenn were right in doing so.

In the 911 call, Glenn's mother tells the operator several times that she is scared that the officers will shoot her son. Thompson has said that the officers believed their lives were in danger.

Glenn was a star kicker on the football team at Tigard High School and was active in soccer and track as well. Grief counselors were on hand at the school on Monday to help students deal with the news of his death.

Tape details mom's panic in crisis

2006-09-19T09:08:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Kate Taylor

sSUMMARY: Police shooting Hope Glenn tells the dispatcher Lukus is threatening the family and smashing windows
TIGARD -- In the transcript of a 9-1-1 call released Monday evening, the mother of an 18-year-old shot dead by Washington County sheriff's deputies Saturday begs for a quick response because her son is threatening family members and smashing windows at the Garden Home residence.

"He's busting all our house windows. If I shut the door he's already busted our front door," Hope Glenn said of her son, Lukus Glenn. "He just keeps threatening to kill

everybody. . . . He's just not in the right head. . . . He says when the cops get here he's gonna stab himself in the neck."

A review of the tape also indicated that the youth was "out of control" and "was not going down without killing someone," a sheriff's spokesman said. The call ends with police firing their weapons at Lukus Glenn and a dispatcher repeatedly calling the mother's name.

The Washington County sheriff's office also revealed the names of the two officers involved in the shooting --Deputy Mikhail Gerba, 27, and Deputy Timothy Mateski, 26. Both were placed on routine leave while the case is being investigate by the Washington County Major Crimes Team, composed of different police agencies.

They also disclosed that Tigard police Officer Andrew Pastore, 29, came to the scene because he was equipped with a less-than-lethal beanbag shotgun. Several beanbag rounds hit Glenn but appeared to have little or no effect, officials said.

Pastore also was placed on routine leave after the shooting.

But other details surrounding the shooting were not available, including whether Gerba or Mateski carried Tasers or whether results from the autopsy on Glenn were available.

Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon on Monday recounted the facts of the shooting as he understood them: The Garden Home youth would not drop the knife, he ran toward a house, and officers shot him to protect the people inside.

On Monday, Hope Glenn sat on her porch in the middle of a makeshift memorial of delivered flowers and food baskets.

Crying continually, she said police arrived on her lawn shouting threats before they frightened and then shot Lukus Glenn in the early hours of Saturday morning. There, between hugs from friends and well-wishers, she said that her son only ever spoke of hurting himself.

Sheriff's spokesmen on Monday tried to answer the questions raised by Saturday's shooting: Was deadly force needed, and how do police officers make the decision to shoot?

Sheriff's Lt. John Black said officers, in general, approach a threat considering "intent, means and opportunity."

In other words, an officer considers what the threatening person is willing to do, what sort of weapon they have and what ability they have to employ the threat. The officer weighs all those factors before he shoots.

"It's deceptively simple," Black said. "All you have to ask (when considering the situation) is, 'Could a reasonable officer have believed a person posed a lethal threat?' That is the line behind a justified use of lethal force."

Sheriff's spokesman Dave Thompson said Washington County officers --like officers in many police departments --receive a few hours of training focused solely on defusing situations.

However, during the 10 weeks of police academy and months of other training it takes to become a police officer, police-in-training are taught again and again to take the least harmful actions possible when trying to bring a dangerous situation under control, he said.

"It's not like we throw an officer out there and say, 'Here's a gun and badge, go out there,' " Thompson said.

Those awaiting a complete investigation include his distraught mother.

"They just shot and killed him. They killed my only son," she said. "He couldn't ever take it when people shouted at him, and they were shouting 'We're going to kill you, you understand that? We're going to kill you so you better drop the knife.' "

Glenn's friend, 19-year-old David Daniel Lucas, witnessed the shooting and said Monday that he couldn't understand why the police had shot his friend.

"The officers were there, they only heard him threatening himself," Lucas said. "No one ever told the cops he was going to hurt anyone but himself."

On Monday, Gordon promised a full investigation into the case.

"I am personally very saddened by this event," Gordon said. "I have two young sons who mean the world to me and I would be devastated if I lost them. I try to also imagine them as being one of the deputies responding to this event --and the emotional turmoil they would be in had they had to make this very difficult decision in just a few seconds of their life. I'd hope the people they serve would give them the benefit of an open mind until the facts are in."

The last turn in the life of Lukus Glenn

2006-09-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Steve Duin

Two irrational forces collided in Lukus Glenn's front yard early Saturday morning.
Glenn, an 18-year-old with an attitude, was drunk on alcohol and anger.

The sheriff's deputies from Washington County, armed with an attitude all their own, were high on adrenaline and low on patience. They also had an overwhelming advantage in firepower, leading to the inevitable funeral service and a few nagging questions about the self-described "conservator of the peace in Washington County."

For the sheriff's office, "nagging" is the word. There are three distinct stages in this kind of police shooting --the incident, the community reaction and the grand jury's official stamp of approval --and this intermediate stage, fraught with shock and disbelief, is the only one that's not controlled by the guys with the badge and the guns.

Society long ago decided cops get the benefit of the doubt when they face a threat with their finger on the trigger. That decision empowers the police at the scene and requires that DAs and grand juries hold them blameless. Only in this anguished middle ground is the need for deadly force met with any degree of skepticism.

Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon said in a statement Monday that his deputies were dispatched to Garden Home to confront a knife-wielding suspect "who was suicidal and out of control."

They ordered Glenn to drop the knife. He didn't.

A Tigard cop hit him with three rounds from a beanbag shotgun. Glenn didn't fall. Instead, he swiveled back toward his house, the night's last fatal turn. That's all the deputies needed to cut loose. To protect Glenn's family, Gordon said, "the deputies both shot the suspect."

And sent several bullets roaring into the house, and past the family members they were trying to "protect."

Said Gordon, "I always caution folks to hold their final opinion on issues such as this until all the facts are fully known." I respect that. Like the Glenn family and several other witnesses on the scene, I simply wish the two deputies had showed similar restraint.

Even those who will memorialize Lukus Glenn this week agree he was drunk and depressed when he returned home at 2 a.m. Saturday and his parents refused to allow him to take his Yamaha dirt bike out on the road. No one but the Washington County sheriff's office, however, is arguing that he ever threatened anyone but himself.

The knife Glenn held to his throat? David Lucas, 19, who arrived at the Glenn house before the deputies did and, along with several others, tried to calm his friend down, said it was a hookah knife, used to widen the holes in the tin foil through which the hookah hoses are inserted.

"That's the knife I gave him for Christmas," Lucas said. "I was working at Big 5 and they had a six-pack of knives for sale. It's a three-inch knife with a plastic handle."

The sheriff's deputies, everyone agrees, were frantically screaming at Glenn to drop that knife. "They're saying they tried to negotiate with him, which they did at no time," Lucas said. Although the deputies were supposedly trained in crisis management, neither stepped back or tried to calm Glenn down.

"They just continued to yell at him. Over and over," Lucas said. "He was getting frustrated because they wouldn't talk to him. He asked Tony (Morales) to tell them to stop yelling."

David Lucas will concede this: "Luke had a problem. When someone told him he couldn't do something, it would make him want to do it more."

After a Tigard officer, who arrived as backup, rocked Glenn with the beanbag rounds, Lucas said, the county deputies opened fire almost immediately: "It wasn't like they shot him with a beanbag and waited for him to surrender. It happened all at once."

Just what provoked the fatal shots? The sheriff's office initially said Glenn "started for the front door of the residence." Lucas said, "He took a step . . . and looked like he was going to take a second step toward the house."

But Gordon's Monday statement said Glenn "started running" toward the house. "He had made threats, was armed, and was totally out of control. You don't have to search too deeply in media archives to find events where innocent family members are hurt or killed in these type of actions."

I suppose that's true. But the deputies had reason to believe a significant barricade separated Glenn from those innocent family members. According to Lucas, when the deputies arrived, Glenn's parents were in the doorway to the house. "The cops told them to go inside and lock the doors," Lucas said.

"The doors were locked. Or they should have been locked."

That brings me to the last of my nagging questions. Sheriff's deputies were told Glenn was suicidal and out of control, yet expected him to respond rationally when confronted by two screaming strangers with guns drawn.

Stranded in his front yard, Glenn was a threat to no one but himself, yet was shot and killed when he staggered away from several beanbag rounds and toward the home he might have perceived as sanctuary.

On Sheriff Rob Gordon's advice, I'm reluctant to reach any conclusions before the facts are "fully known." But I have to ask:

The next time a local teen-ager becomes unhinged and picks up a knife, what rational parent will dial 9-1-1? After the death of Lukus Glenn, what mother or father would expect help to arrive with the sheriff's deputies of Washington County?

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - 9/19/06

2006-09-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

Police shooting: Nonlethal tactics needed
We were aghast to learn of the killing this weekend of Tigard-area teen Lukus Glenn by Washington County sheriff's deputies ("Police kill 18-year-old near Tigard," Sept. 17, and "Mom: 9-1-1 call was to help son," Sept. 18).

Something went terribly wrong here. Having raised three children, we know that there are occasions when teens may be out of control and defiant, especially if alcohol is involved. Glenn's parents did exactly the right thing when their son appeared to be out of control and self-destructive: They asked for help.

They expected that their son might have to be arrested for the night, sober up and face the consequences of extreme behavior. The last thing they expected, we're sure, was that law enforcement officers would escalate the situation even further.

If Glenn had been a wild animal cornered in the neighborhood, chances are he would have been tranquilized and transported unconscious back to a friendly habitat. Why couldn't that have happened for Glenn?

We weren't there, and we don't know the exact circumstances as events played out, but we suggest a different type of training for the officers is needed. Defiance is not sufficient reason to take a life.

Bring out the Tasers, stall, negotiate, do something else --anything rather than escalate to final justice so quickly.

Our sympathies go out to the parents who raised a promising young man who just needed a little help and some extra discipline getting through the adolescent growing pains. He deserved a better outcome, and so did they.

DENNIS and CHARLENE DOYLE

Redland

The Oregonian reports another police killing of an apparently disturbed person, this time a teenager armed only with a knife. The families of Fouad Kaady and now Lukus Glenn are reeling from a shoot-first, protect-later policy.

When will our police be trained to disarm first without firing multiple rounds to ensure a kill? Why not train police to shoot at the legs of aggressive and disturbed persons who are not armed with guns?

As reported, Lukus Glenn may have been seeking "suicide by cop," but we should train our police to protect our citizens first. Police should use guns only as a last resort, and even then, first to disable suspects --not to slaughter them in a hail of bullets.

PETER KLAEBE

Lake Oswego

As a resident of Washington County, I am shocked by the insensitivity and utter lack of competence these so-called "peace officers" failed to demonstrate. This cry for help from a depressed, confused teenager was answered with a ruthless barrage of gunfire, resulting in a senseless loss of life.

I may not be a crisis tactician, but I believe this tragedy could have easily been avoided with just the slightest bit of common sense and empathy on the part of the police.

ROBERT O'HEARN

Northwest Portland

Extreme police reactions such as in [the fatal shootings of] Lukus Glenn and Fouad Kaady in Sandy will result in the public's loss of trust and confidence in law enforcement. The people will learn to avoid the police for help and resolve the situation on their own. Results, where people take matters into their own hands, also are troublesome.

Sadly, this is life in the bitter and paranoid America.

BRYAN J. DORR

Milwaukie

EDITORIAL - Did Lukus Glenn have to die?

2006-09-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian

None of us on the outside knows enough to understand why Washington County sheriff's deputies killed 18-year-old Lukus Glenn outside his house early Saturday morning.
By his family's account, Glenn was drunk, despondent and destructive, smashing car windows outside their Garden Home area house. He brandished a knife, which he held against his own throat.

In hopes of getting him calmed down, his mother called 9-1-1, which sent two deputies and a Tigard Police officer to the house.

The sheriff's office said later Saturday that the deputies ordered Glenn to drop the knife, but he refused. The official account said the officers fired bean-bag rounds at him, but Glenn was unfazed. And when he turned to re-enter his house, they shot and killed him. Their bullets penetrated the bedroom of Glenn's grandmother, but missed her.

Law officers usually are the first to enter volatile scenes, in an effort to keep the public safe. When things go well, they subdue disturbed people with no violence, and then the professional caregivers step in. But in this case, they shot and Glenn died without getting the professional help he clearly needed.

Did it have to end this way? Did the officers have other choices? How much did they know about Glenn before they arrived? How had their training prepared them for the scene?

And would anybody have been hurt if his mother hadn't called 9-1-1?

Transcript of 9-1-1 call from mother of teen fatally shot by police

2006-09-18T23:00:00.000-07:00

from KGW.com

9-1-1 call from Hope Glenn to Washington County Dispatch on 9/16/06 at 0305 hours. The following is a partial transcript transcribed by the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

DISPATCH: 911 what’s your emergency?

HOPE GLENN: I need the cops to my house immediately, I have a son that is out of control busting out windows and has a knife and is threatening us. He’s busting out car windows. He’s trying to get keys to a car, he’s drunk.

DISPATCH: What kind of a knife is it?

HOPE GLENN: It’s just a pocket knife, I think.

(Background noise: obscenities)

DISPATCH: Can you guys get away from him?

HOPE GLENN: Yeah, but he’s wrecking everything here. We’re just trying to talk to him…He’s threatening to kill himself if the cops come here. He’s already bleeding pretty bad…He’s been busting out all the windows with his hands. He’s just really, really intoxicated…His two friends are here trying to talk sense into him but he’s not listening. He says he’s not leaving until the cops shoot him and kill him…He busted out all our car windows. He’s angry because we won’t give him keys…

DISPATCH: Can you lock the door so he stays outside?

HOPE GLENN: Well he’s busting all our house windows. If I shut the door he’s already busted our front door... He just keeps threatening to kill everybody…he’s just not in the right head... He says when the cops get here he’s gonna stab himself in the neck.

DISPATCHER: We’ll have the paramedics come as well.

HOPE GLENN: He said he’s not going down without killing someone. We’re gonna watch him die tonight.

DISPATCHER: Does he have a history of suicide?

HOPE GLENN: No….he attempted it once before I think. You know he was really depressed

HOPE GLENN: Shut the door. Shut the door. Don’t let him in.

HOPE GLENN: He’s walking towards us. He says he’s killing himself right now…as soon as the cops get here.

HOPE GLENN: He says he’s gonna run at the cop with the knife. He wants the cop to shoot him.

(Deputy issuing commands: Sherriff’s Office get on the ground now.)

HOPE GLENN: Put it down. Put it down. I don’t wanna see you die.

HOPE GLENN: Don’t let them shoot him. Please don’t let them shoot him.

(Sounds of deputies ordering Lukus to drop the knife)

HOPE GLENN: They’re gonna kill, they’re gonna shoot him.

DISPATCHER: What’s going on now?

HOPE GLENN: They’re telling him to drop the knife or they’re going to shoot him.

Lukus: You kill me or I kill me.

HOPE GLENN: He’s saying he kills himself or they kill him. He just wants to die tonight.

HOPE GLENN: I can’t shut the door he busted it.

DISPATCHER: Can you move to another part of the house where you’re safe?

HOPE GLENN: I’m safe right now I think. Unless he comes running in here.

HOPE GLENN: He’s so drunk.

(Sound of gunfire)

HOPE GLENN: They shot him…..they killed him.

Approximately four minutes elapsed between when the deputies arrived and the first bean bag round was fired. Deputies were issuing repeated commands to Glenn during this four minute period to drop the knife.

Mom: 9-1-1 call was to help son

2006-09-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Maxine Bernstein

SUMMARY: Garden Home The Glenn family says deputies who shot and killed an 18-year-old also endangered his grandmother
Hope Glenn was frustrated because she, her husband and her son's friends couldn't seem to calm her drunken, agitated 18-year-old son early Saturday. So she called 9-1-1 at 3:05 a.m. for help.

She told a dispatcher her teenage son, Lukus, was suicidal, standing outside their house in the Garden Home area of unincorporated Washington County with a knife to his throat.

"When I called 9-1-1, I called to save my son, to get some professional help," she said in an interview Sunday. "Maybe I'm naive."

Minutes after Washington County sheriff's deputies and a Tigard police officer arrived and Glenn's son, Lukus, refused to drop his knife, officers fired bean-bag rounds at him. When Glenn turned toward the house, two deputies fired several gunshots. Relatives said the teenager collapsed by a doorstep. He died at the scene.

The sheriff's office did not say how many times or where Glenn was shot, but said the deputies fired because they were concerned he might harm family inside.

The teenager's parents and relatives Sunday said in interviews the deputies' gunfire ripped through the house and into the teenager's 72-year-old grandmother's room, barely missing her.

"I could have lost my son and my mom," Hope Glenn said. She pointed out two bullet holes in the front door and two inside the grandmother's room as she numbly recounted Saturday's events.

Lukus Glenn graduated this year from Tigard High School, where he excelled as a kicker on the football team. He had gone to dinner with a girlfriend Friday night and to a Wilson High School football game, his mother said. Later, he went to a party. A friend dropped him off at home about 2 a.m. Saturday because Glenn told his friends he was too drunk to drive.

His parents had been sleeping, but Hope Glenn heard him come in. She went downstairs to check on him and could tell he was drunk. She asked where his car was. He told her he "wasn't that stupid," she recalled.

The teenager had been down on his luck in recent months, disappointed about a long-term romantic relationship that had gone sour and unsure about his future as he saw fellow Tigard graduates heading to college. He had been working half-days at a Oregon Liquor Control Commission warehouse loading pallets but quit, his mother said. He hoped to start at Portland State University in the winter --a former Tigard High coach led its football team.

Without his car, Lukus Glenn tried to get into a shed to his off-road motorcycle, despite his mom's protestations that he shouldn't be driving any vehicle. She woke her husband, Brad Glenn, and they went outside. She described their son as distraught. His dad told him to go to bed or start walking, Hope Glenn said.

Lukus Glenn walked off for a while but came back, kicking the front door, his family said. His parents opened it and the teenager went inside and grabbed a wood-carving knife, his mother said.

"I told him, 'Luke, stop, calm down.' He said, 'No, I'm leaving.' "

So his mother called her son's friend, Tony Morales. "Luke's on the street with a knife. You need to find him," she told him. "He might kill himself."

Morales, 22, said he found Glenn sitting in the yard next to the Glenn home. Morales stayed with him about 20 minutes.

"He was just sitting there, kind of depressed," Morales said. "I've never seen him like that. It was weird, because earlier in the night he was in a good mood, talking about getting a job with his uncle and getting a house together with us."

At one point, Glenn jumped over his neighbor's fence and ran back into his parents' driveway. "That's when he started yelling he wanted his keys," Morales said. "He yelled, 'Who has my keys?' "

By then, another friend had driven Lukus' car to the Glenns' house. His parents heard windows smashing. Their son punched out a back window of one of their cars, then grabbed a shovel and knocked out a window on another.

Glenn dropped the shovel, Morales said, and pulled out a knife. "Me and his dad tried to jump toward him and stop him," Morales said, but Glenn moved away and threatened to hurt himself.

"He was not trying to hurt us," Morales said. "I told him, 'I'll back away, but please put the knife down.' "

When Hope Glenn saw her son put a knife to his throat and refuse to move it, she called 9-1-1. "I said, 'Don't shoot him, he's suicidal.' "

Morales said he saw three officers run into the front yard, guns drawn. They told Morales to drop to the ground and told Brad Glenn to go inside. Glenn's grandmother was at her door and they screamed at her to get inside, Hope Glenn and Morales said.

Morales said the officers yelled at Lukus Glenn to drop the knife. Glenn had the knife in his right hand and kept telling the officers to "stop screaming, stop yelling," Morales said.

Hope Glenn watched from her windows and said she pleaded on the phone with an emergency dispatcher, "Don't let them shoot him. He's my only son."

Another officer fired several bean-bag rounds, which didn't knock Lukus Glenn down.

"He just kind of looked at them," Morales said.

Glenn grabbed both sides of his baggy pants and turned toward the house, gasping, his mother said.

Then four to five gunshots followed.

"I remember seeing him falling as I was screaming his name," Morales said.

The Glenns watched their son fall on the front step outside his grandmother's room. Hope Glenn was screaming and had to be treated later for chest pains.

The two deputies are on routine leave while the case is investigated. Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Bob Day said all deputies are trained in crisis intervention techniques. After Lukus Glenn refused to drop the knife, the deputies felt they had no choice but to shoot him before he went inside his home, a prepared sheriff's statement said.

The family, still reeling from his death, isn't convinced.

Sunday afternoon, wearing a Tigard football sweatshirt, Hope Glenn said, "I wish I just wouldn't have called."

A friend by her side quickly told her she shouldn't think like that.

"The police just agitated him," Glenn continued.

Now Glenn is in a daze about what she must do next, what preparations she needs to make for a funeral. An autopsy, she said, was to be done Sunday.

"We don't even know how to start," she said.

Police kill 18-year-old near Tigard

2006-09-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

from The Oregonian, by Laura Oppenheimer and Peter Sleeth

SUMMARY: Shooting Officials say the former football star had a knife and defied officers
TIGARD --Police officers shot and killed an 18-year-old former Tigard High School football star outside his home early Saturday after he allegedly threatened them with a knife, Washington County sheriff's officials said.

Sheriff's deputies and a Tigard police officer responded to a call at 3 a.m. of a man with a knife behaving erratically in the 9200 block of Southwest 80th Avenue.

Lukus David Glenn, who had allegedly been smashing car windows with a shovel, was waving a knife when police arrived. He would not drop it when officers confronted him, said Sgt. David Thompson, a sheriff's spokesman. At times, Glenn held the weapon to his own throat.

Officers fired beanbag rounds at Glenn, but he continued to threaten police and his own safety, Thompson said. "He was making some suicidal statements."

Glenn headed toward the house, ignoring officers' orders to stop, authorities said. Police knew that other people were in the house and feared for their safety, according to a news release. "Deputies felt they had no other choice but to shoot Mr. Glenn before he entered the residence," the release said. Two deputies fired at Glenn, striking him multiple times, officials said.

The officers were not identified. They were placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, which is standard police procedure, Thompson said.

Glenn's mother, Hope Glenn, said Saturday afternoon that she called 9-1-1 because her son was so upset that she was afraid he might hurt himself. She said she didn't think officers needed to shoot.

"He was my only son," she said, too distraught to talk at length.

The initial call was recorded as a disturbance involving a weapon, police said. Witnesses told police Glenn was making statements such as "If you call the police, I'm gonna die tonight" and "Somebody's gonna die tonight."

Other young people were at the scene, but police did not say how many or their relationship to Glenn.

The Washington County major crimes team is investigating.

Hope Glenn said her son had been depressed recently but was generally a funny, happy teen. He was always cracking a joke, she said.

Glenn, an all-conference kicker for Tigard's football team, graduated a few months ago. He was also a good runner and soccer player who frequently invited friends to the family's house in the quiet Garden Home neighborhood near Washington Square Mall.

Crystal Satter, who lives across the street from the Glenns, said she couldn't imagine Friday night's commotion was coming from their house when it woke her up. She counts the Glenns among her favorite neighbors.

"Get on the ground now!" Satter heard officers yell several times. Eventually, one of them said, "Get on the ground now, or I'll shoot!"

Satter lay in bed thinking, "Please don't let this happen. Please don't let this happen." Then she heard the shots.

It wasn't until daylight, when a detective stopped by, that she learned it was Luke Glenn who'd been killed. She spent Saturday writing in her journal and mentally replaying memories of the Glenns.

Shortly after Satter moved in 15 years ago, Hope and Brad Glenn brought young Luke by to trick-or-treat, each holding one of his hands. Brad Glenn once confided he'd gotten into trouble a time or two as a kid; he'd do everything he could to keep his son healthy and happy.

As far as Satter could see, that's exactly what the family did.

The Glenns converted their side yard to a soccer field, where Luke and his friends played. They built a treehouse and staged paintball games. Every Fourth of July, the family hosted a big party. On nice weekends, they loaded their boat into a trailer and headed out of town to water-ski.

"These people dedicated 100 percent of the last 18 years to raising this young man," Satter said.

Hope Glenn described her son as "just a good kid." She said Luke had to work hard at school but did well. He was always surrounded by friends. And, though he'd been a little down recently, he'd decided to enroll at Portland State University this winter. He hoped to play football under an assistant coach who used to lead the Tigard Tigers.

Pam Henslee, the high school principal, said counselors will be available this week to help students and staff. She'll also work with Glenn's family if they want to remember him in a special way.

"His teachers spoke highly of him," Henslee said. "They just said he was a nice kid."