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What Happened To Fouad Kaady: Officer goes on leave; target of investigation

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Officer goes on leave; target of investigation

A Sandy police officer is on paid leave while investigators review allegations that surfaced from a separate inquiry into a Clackamas County deputy, Sandy Police Chief Harold Skelton said Wednesday.

William Jacob Bergin, 27, who has been with the Sandy department since May 2005, has been on leave since July 25. Skelton would not comment on the allegations.

Deputy Brandon S. Claggett, 37, who was assigned to the Mount Hood area, has been on leave since July 9.

Bergin was arrested last year in Sherwood on suspicion of driving under the influence of intoxicants and entered a diversion program. He was on workers' compensation leave stemming from his involvement in the fatal police shooting of Fouad Kaady in 2005.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've seen, quite unfortunately, thousands of incidents of police brutality thanks to the prevalence of smart phone cameras in the last few months. While all of these cases are horrible, the case of Faoud Kaady remains to be the most horrific. By leaps and bounds it calls itself out to be the worst thing I've "witnessed". ( I heard the details from the officers themselves.)

This case in my opinion shows that the "Bad Apple" argument we hear so often is obviously not the true issue. The issue, clearly, is the Non Existent (Useless) screening process that potential officers go through before becoming said officers, and, possibly even paramount, is the current training regimen of these officers.

We hear over and over how the officers accused of brutality simply "Followed Protocol". O.K. Let's say for the sake of argument that the officers DID indeed follow protocol in this case. Well it only takes a first grade education to see that said protocol is flawed beyond all reason and logic.

In this particular case, it's clear that these officers tortured a badly burned and bleeding man that could not possibly in any sense of the word known what he was doing at the time. Burns are known to be the most painful injuries known to man. The idea that this horribly burned man should be ORDERED to lay down on the concrete or asphalt is ALMOST impossible to believe. Of course it's easy to hear these "Officers" say in there own words that they ordering Mr Kaady to lay down on the asphalt is exactly what they did. ( It doesn't require rocket science to know that filling a horrible burn with debris and bacteria by laying on the ground is the worst thing one could do in the situation.)

I think the reason I keep being drawn to this particular case is due to the fact it's so incredibly hard to believe two grown men that have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States could treat another human being worse than an animal that's about to be slaughtered.

These two officers have helped to put a chill in my spine that is not going away. I've always been afraid of the police as I was routinely harassed as a teenager. ( I'm white and at the time had very long hair. I have assumed for years that the hair is what made me stand out. Who knows?)

I'm here on this site because I'm desperately hoping to find out that these officers are being punished in some way. ( You like to at least con yourself into believing that there is some order and justice in the universe) I've yet to go through much of the site yet. You know, when I repeat this story to ANYONE, I can see a look of total disbelief in there eyes and mannerisms. It's clear that they think there is no possible way that this case could have happened the way I tell the story. I wish they were correct.

Please, Please, as a fellow human being, look into the details of this case. Get angry, and then start writing. Write to anyone and everyone you can think of. It does not matter that this case is years old now. The only thing that matters is that this is a case that simply points out the horrific state of police departments in the United States.

Change needs to happen. It needs to happen sooner than later, and it needs to be B.I.G. I can only imagine what it must have taken in the 1700s to get our forefathers to make the very difficult decision to take up arms against the British Government. It was of course breaking the law. No one feels comfortable with going up against a super powerful government. I for one do not wish to ever have to even consider it.

HOWEVER! When you look at the Faoud Kaady case, and then realize that it is not a rare occurrence, and you are reminded daily that Citizens of the U.S. are routinely killed at the hands of the people that are supposed to be helping us......Well, how much are we to take? Will it require each and everyone of us to have a family member of friend killed, or tortured at the hands of police to motivate us?