Several residents of the Carriage Apartments criticized police Tuesday for using what they described as excessive force.
"He was a creep, but does that mean you get killed like a dog? They should have hogtied him, detained him and taken him away," Carita Mendez said.
Mendez lives in a first-floor unit at the Carriage Apartments, directly below the unit where Rold fought with police as his mother looked on. Neighbors said she screamed out the window, pleading for help and saying that police were killing her son.
Mendez said the violence left many residents traumatized.
"We've been crying, us girls have," she said. "It's too much for us. It's sad."
Liz Patterson, co-manager of the complex, described the altercation between Rold and police officers as a tragedy.
"It's a tragedy for the family. It's a tragedy for the police department. It's a tragedy for everybody involved," she said.
The four officers involved were placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in cases involving a fatality and use of physical force. One of the officers, Jacob Pratt, was injured during the fight, and was treated at Silverton Hospital. The other three are Eric Brown, Adam Waite, and Cpl. Darron Mumey.
Villagers, I remain convinced that these four officers did not abide by the use of force continuum in this case. The penalty for being a creep or a trespasser is not the death penalty. Something went horribly wrong in Salem OR and as a result Gregory Rold became the 20th person this year to die as a result of taser electrocution in America.
When will the Congressional Black Caucus join over 600 people to demand congressional hearings on this rising incidence of taser torture in America?
