Nothing to see here, folks, ignore that smell

It's amazing how weak the mainstream media in the Portland area is. Here we are four days and five nights after the Clark County sheriff's deputies shot and killed a young Black man, and all we have is an exceedingly vague and seemingly self-contradictory official version of what happened.

First the sheriff said the victim, Kevin Peterson Jr., "reportedly" fired a gun at police before they killed him. Later the same day, the team investigating the killing said only that Peterson had "produced" a gun. No witness who has spoken publicly saw the deceased firing, or even holding, a gun.

We're told that three deputies fired at him. Do those deputies have names? Do they have histories of this sort of violence? What kind of training do they have? What are the rules about shooting at fleeing suspects?

Yesterday the medical examiner's "office" up that way did us all the big favor of confirming that Peterson died of multiple gunshot wounds. Peterson's body must have been completely clear of drugs and alcohol, or we would have heard about that.

But how many gunshot wounds? On what parts of his body? The medical examiner's "office" won't say.

And they get away with this!

In my days as a cub reporter, I used to sit behind a city editor named Bob O'Brien. He and I got along swimmingly. If Bob O'Brien told me to call the medical examiner and demand more details, and I couldn't get them, he would call the medical examiner himself.

He would tell the good doctor, "Look, either you're going to give us the details now, or else we're going to run a front-page story tomorrow about how you're covering them up."

And he would mean it. He would run such a story, if necessary.

The Kevin Peterson story needs a Bob O'Brien. But sadly, there's nobody like that left in local journalism. Even his job has probably been cut out at our wimpy news organizations.

If you give the cops four days to make up their story, forget it, we'll never know the truth. No wonder the kids are rioting.

At least KGW is Portland-politely noting the "confusion," here.

For crying out loud, people, does the Clark County medical examiner even have a name? Where is their "office"? Do they give interviews? If not, do they walk out to their car where cameras can show them running away from questions? Have they been involved in shady cases in the past?

And the sheriff – is he an elected official? He needs to get the Bob O'Brien phone call, too. Big time. We want the names of the deputies. They killed a man.