Without spending a day in the police academy, Michael Boyes was handed a badge and a gun and allowed to kill a man experiencing a mental health episode in Oregon two years ago.
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office then claimed that the Sandy police officer had shot and killed a 58-year-old retired law enforcement officer named Douglas Diamond because he had shot a deputy trying to detain him.
And even after it was determined that it was Boyes who had shot the deputy while shooting at Diamond, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office still insisted that Boyes only fired after Diamond pulled a gun.
But a lawsuit filed last week claims that is a lie.
The truth is the sheriff’s deputies and cops from the Sandy Police Department had no legal basis to detain Diamond in the first place because he had committed no crime and was showing no signs of aggression, according to the suit which you can read here.
But Clackamas County Sheriff’s Sergeant Sean Collinson chose to escalate the incident and Sandy police allowed Boyes to work as a cop despite his lack of training which is the only reason Diamond ended up dead, the lawsuit states.
The incident took place July 3, 2020 after Diamond’s family called 911 concerned for his safety because he had made statements that he wanted to take his own life. Family members told dispatch that Diamond was a retired Washington County sheriff’s deputy and would likely be armed.
Initially, three Clackamas sheriff’s deputies arrived at the RV park where Diamond was living in a mobile home, including a deputy named Gabriel Adel who was trained in crisis intervention and hostage negotiation.
Diamond was standing outside his home with his hands in his pockets when the three deputies walked up. Adel ordered him to remove his hands from his pockets but Diamond refused.
At that point, Adel radioed his sergeant, Collinson, to suggest they leave the scene because the only reason they were dispatched was to see if he was still alive and they just determined he was alive.
But Collinson who was across the county ordered them to stay put until he got there, ordering Adel “not go give any ground unless he had to,” the lawsuit states.
On the way to the scene, Collinson asked the Sandy Police Department to send a “less lethal shotgun operator” to the scene.
Sandy police officer William Wetherbee responded to the scene with Boyes who had already been working as an officer for three months despite not having attended the police academy.
Collinson told the two cops that he was going to order Diamond to remove his hands from his pocket but if he refused, then Wetherbee was to shoot him with the less lethal shotgun.
Boyes was to provide “lethal cover” in case things went wrong, the lawsuit states.
Meanwhile, Diamond was telling Adel and the other deputies at the scene that he was going to go back inside his home and drink a beer and watch TV which was something that Adel was encouraging him to do.
The incident was close to winding down when Collinson approached the home with the two cops, agitating Diamond who asked Adel to tell them to back off. Adel told them to back off but they either did not hear him or ignored him, the lawsuit states.
Instead, Collinson began ordering Diamond to remove his hands from his pockets. When Diamond ignored his commands, Collinson directed Wetherbee to shoot him with the less lethal shotgun.
Sandy police officer Wetherbee shot three times but Diamond remained standing so Collinson began tasering him.
However, that failed as well because Diamond was wearing a heavy sweatshirt, not allowing the probes to connect to his body.
That was when Collinson charged towards Diamond, grabbing him in a bear hug.
At that point, Collinson spotted a gun inside Diamond’s pocket and began yelling, “gun! gun! gun!.”
Boyes then opened fire, killing Diamond and wounding Collinson in the arm.
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office then claimed on Twitter that Diamond was killed after shooting the deputy in the arm. That was followed by a press release two weeks later in which they admitted the deputy was shot by a cop.
But the press release still insisted that “Diamond produced a semi-automatic handgun, pointing it at the Clackamas County sergeant,” which is why he was killed.
And the press release made no mention that Boyes had not even attended the police academy which he eventually did in November 2020.
Oregon state law allows cops to work for 90 days before attending the academy but Boyes had already worked more than 100 days at the time of the shooting, according to the Oregonian.
The problem is not a lack of “training,” as most government cops become abusive after receiving “training” from the government. The problem is when you believe that the government has a responsibility to prevent citizens from harming themselves, and that the government has the Authoritah to injure or kill a citizen when a citizen does not want help to stop harming himself, and that it is acceptable to lie on a report to make the cops and the government look like they did nothing wrong.
Uh-Oh there goes the Liability insurance rates for that city and county.