I'm really surprised that Fish and Fritz are sitting by and watching this happen

Why? They've proven themselves only slightly more interested in meaningful issues than the rest of City Council.

And Fish of course is a freshman, and positioning himself for a future mayoral run. So--he's been very careful to pick safe issues.

Fritz has tried very hard to get on City Council, but is largely ineffective.

When the soccer scarves were broken out by both Fritz and Fish at recent discussions of soccer teams, I knew that that they were more about being shrewd and strategizing their future than being a courageous public servant.

"Excited Delirium":2009 = "Twinkie Defense":1979

Isn't there some way that the city or its insurer or whoever will wind up paying the judgment can limit its exposure here? Say, tell the defense mouthpiece "Alright, here's what we're good for, $______. If you try that excitable delirium s--t, any judgment greater than that comes out of the PPB retirement fund."

I had to read this with care. I assumed that "excited delirium" described the state of the arresting officers. For that matter, doesn't it pretty much characterize our city government?

the PPB retirement fund

You wish. That "fund" is us.

This reminds me of the Portland Archdiocese strategy. Not only is it morally wrong, it will lead to a much higher award against the city, because the desperate argument itself supports plaintiff's coverup story. I hope my taxes go to compensate the Chasse family. It would be the best thing my taxes have been spent on in a decade. Better this than the scam du jour. What a pathetic pile of poop we have for leadership.

From the beginning the Chasse family has been pressing for the truth about how Jim died at the hands of the Portland Police and the subsequent white washing of the whole incident. I highly doubt the family would take any settlement at this point that did not include a complete airing of the whole dirty business. Most likely we will see a trial that is both embarrassing to the Portland Police, its leadership and the City Council and a huge judgement for the Chasse family.

All along the Police brass has been hiding behind the rhubarb that the officers were acting within department policy (interesting policy that condones kicking the s**t out of someone who might have been urinating in public). Now they have a new ruse with the "excited delirium" defense. Like the other posters, I thought it applied to the officers who might have been caught up in the "heat of the moment" and couldn't stop from beating and tasering Mr. Chasse because he was still moving.

Every time I read a new development in this incident it turns my stomach. It is my hope, and I know that it is a longshot, that after the civil trial the District Attorney will look at charging the offending officers with murder.

Is there an emoticon that combines anger, disbelief and disgust? If so, please insert here:

What's astounded me about the discussions of the Chasse case is that it appears that police officers have absolutely no conception of what blunt force trauma does to the human body. Even if they did have some sort of rationale for using an immense amount of force to subdue a subject -- and there are certainly times when that's needed -- you have to be an idiot to think that that force didn't have some effect on the subject. If you shoot someone it makes a hole. If you hit someone in the ribs -- particularly if you do it over and over -- you're likely to break something. Even if the force is necessary, they can't be ignorant of the effect.

If I were playing the game Balderdash, I would have said that death through Excited Delirium is when someone dies during sex.

Jack, it's a very good question, and one every advocate should face squarely prior to making a commitment to dash their integrity on the rocks of an institution.

Can it be done? Yes. But one must put principles before personalities, and that's harder to do than type.

Added pressure: as the advocate's constituency grows, so does dissent, regardless of position.

Added pressure: social media the nattering nabobs of negativity, and cumulatively the clatter drowns out reasoned discussion.

Added pressure: friendships, families, even social banality transform to become work-focused.

You have to ask - who in their right mind would do such a thing?

The city commissioners may be thinking that it's their job to limit the city's liability. But it isn't. We elected them to lead. To do the right thing on behalf of all of us. Allowing this blatant lie to be perpetrated isn't anywhere near that.

Saltzman and Adams are incapable of leadership, we know that. And Fireman Richard Daley is off the deep end. But Fish and Fritz ought to step up here.

That latest scheme is really twisted and vile. The City of Portland should adopt a new, truer motto and license it from Hunter S. Thompson's estate:

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

I don't think Randy & Co. would pay for the use of HST's famous phrase. Rather, they would threaten to condemn it or to send a hit squad of inspectors and PPB cops to the licensing office to play a little video of the Chasse beatdown for them, just as an "encouragement" for negotiation.

I hope Amnesty International and the ACLU jump on board this train and pound that ludicrous, craven, shameless "excited delirium" BS permanently into the stinking muck it slithered out of.

Even if the guy died from "excited delirium" (which we all know is not true), wouldn't it have been brought on solely by the Taser? That's going to be a great excuse in front a jury. You Tasered a puny little mentally ill guy over a suspicion of offensive littering?

It's desperate. It's disgusting. It is pure evil. If there is a God, there will be hell to pay, and not just by the murderers in uniform.

I hope the Chasse family will air all this ugliness in a public trial. I am hoping for a verdict that will send the city into bankruptcy. The right wingers do not have a monopoly on government incompetence or dishonesty. The behavior of the city and its police force demonstrate that too clearly. (And I'm not real proud of my own fair city almost getting played for a sucker on the baseball stadium horses**t.)

I've seen this act before from the Portland Police, and they are good at it. In the late '80s, I got hit my PDX cop while on my bike. Clearly his fault, but in the "he said, he said" the cop's version of "the cyclist fell down, I rendered assistance" prevailed. I missed a month of work, racked up lots of medical bills and gained a permanently messed up elbow that has required 2 surgeries since.

Chasse was run down by the same machine that got me. Sadly in his case, it was a bigger, badder, more focused and lethal machine.

Don't expect these folks to ever step up to the plate: they just don't have it in them. Too much of an "we gotta protect our own" attitude.

Perhaps someone ought to drop a line to the folks at 20/20 or 48Hours ?

It's been a while since the heyday of gonzo journalism, so the quote, "when things get weird, the weird get pro", seems vaguely unfamiliar.

Wasn't it more like, when things get weird, guzzle some more whiskey and LSD?

The combination would do nothing for Sam and Randy, and the window of opportunity is likely past for it to help Amanda or Nick, either. Dan Saltzman remains a mystery, but he seems pretty much paralysed by fear. Might could use some mind-expanding, or whatever Timothy Leary called it.

The rage this situation provokes has the curious effect of raising the question, is it possible that Randy Leonard is the only mirage of leadership we have on the council, since he at least says something negative about the police, while Dan wants to give the guys involved two weeks vacation?

Probably just proof of utter opportunism on Randy's part, unfortunately. It is a mild comfort to fantasize about a mirage of leadership, however.

Alien Boy should be out soon. We can hope that the story gets picked up by the national media from that.

Officer Humphreys is in trouble again.

Breaking news:

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/11/live_blog_portland_police_shoo.html