Portland may be the worst place in America to be a police officer. There have been constant protests there for over a year that often devolve into lawbreaking and riots. That behavior is generally supported by the city’s political class and the Mayor has put rules in place that make it nearly impossible for officers to effectively respond. On top of that, when the police do catch rioters breaking the law, the DA for that county generally refuses to prosecute them.

All of this puts police officers in an impossible situation, but just because it’s impossible doesn’t mean it can’t get worse.

Per radio host Lars Larson, after DA Mike Schmidt filed charges of criminal assault against one of the police’s “Rapid Response Team” members for striking someone participating in a BLM riot, the entire team resigned from the unit en masse.

Sources confirm for me tonight that members of the Portland Police Rapid Response Team (trained in riot control) met tonight and all resigned their spots in the voluntary assignment. The news comes one day after the Antifa friendly District Attorney of Multnomah County (cont)

— Lars Larson (@LarsLarsonShow) June 17, 2021

Rioters organizers included instructions to come with helmets and weapons. Officer Budworth used his baton to tap back rioters trying to interfere with arrests, accidently striking a woman in the head. Budworth was cleared of any violation of dept rules & training.

— Lars Larson (@LarsLarsonShow) June 17, 2021

You can actually watch what happened right here, although of course, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

The Portland Police Association correctly noted that this prosecution was politically driven,

“Unfortunately, this decorated public servant has been caught in the crossfire of agenda-driven city leaders and a politicized criminal justice system. He faced a violent and chaotic, rapidly evolving situation, and he used the lowest level of baton force — a push; not a strike or a jab — to remove Ms. Jacobs from the area,” the union said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.

In a separate statement to KATU, PPA executive director Daryl Turner said that the video footage from the scene doesn’t tell the full story. He also defended Budworth’s baton maneuver.

“As Officer Budworth cleared Ms. Jacobs from the area to stop her criminal activity, Ms. Jacobs fell to the ground,” he said.

“Reasonably believing that she was getting back up to re-engage in her unlawful activities, Officer Budworth employed one last baton push to try and keep her on the ground, which accidentally struck Ms. Jacobs in the head. The location of Officer Budworth’s last baton push was accidental, not criminal,” Turner added.

Being a police officer is a tough job anywhere, but being a police officer in Portland is impossible because the people in charge want it to be impossible. Many of the citizens and government leaders there richly deserve the increasing violence and crime in that city, but it’s hard not to feel sorry for the good people that ended up trapped when Portland turned from a kooky, crazy, fun little city into the armpit of America.

John Hawkins is the author of 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know. You can find him on Parler here and on Twitter here.

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