I just heard on the radio about a Tri Met bus striking and tragically running down two pedestrians and seriously injuring another in downtown Portland Oregon. Wrongful death suits will follows as it would appear from the preliminary facts I have now read that the Tri Met driver is likely at fault so it would appear.

Wrongful death suits involving Tri Met involve questions of appropriate driver care and issues get more complex because of the common carrier statutes and governing law. Having handled perhaps as many as 20 cases against Tri Met over the last eighteen years I foresee a drawn out fight but if handled in the appropriate manner can be resolved to achieve the ends wished by the wrongful death recipient family

Once again police officers find themselves under scrutiny – this time the Salem Police Department. The use of taser stun guns is being questioned in a federal lawsuit filed on March 31, 2010 in Eugene for their conduct in the death of a Salem man, Gregory Rold, age 30. According to the family attorney, Todd Peterson, Rold had a long history of schizophrenia and presented no threat to officers who responded to a call on May 23, 2009.

Rold was tased a total of 16 times over 4 minutes for a total of 158 seconds during a visit at the apartment of his mother, Felisa Rold, in SE Salem. According to Peterson, the officers’ use of excessive force further included the manner in which Mr. Rold, who weighed 264 pounds, was restrained by officers following the tasing spree. He died of cardiac arrest from positional asphyxiation. He was a citizen of Micronesia.

The federal wrongful death suit which seeks $5,955,000 in damages, including claims for punitive damages, maintains Rold’s death could have been averted had the Salem police not overreacted in a situation involving a person of limited mental ability, who presented no threat of harm to police nor made any attempt to escape.