You know, sometimes people make bad choices.
They damage other people's stuf.
And when the system works right,
well, they're held accountable.
But you may have noticed in the recent years,
the system does not always work right.
Which brings us to a repeat
rock thrower in Gresham,
a man charged with breaking
windows in at least 11 business.
That's our big story tonight.
The accused rock thrower?
Not exactly a criminal mastermi.
Gresham police caught
him four different times.
Yeah, he's accused of throwing
rocks through business windows n
downtown Gresham four different times
over the span of just eight day.
Three of the four times he was arrested,
he was taken to jail.
But listen to this.
He got out quickly.
He was probably back in Gresham faster
than the officers who had to dre
him to Portland for the booking.
More on that in a moment,
but first let's take a look at the damage.
This is the historic part
of downtown Gresham,
the latest target of the rock attacks,
which happened twice on the 4th of July.
Again,
at least 11 businesses had winds
broken in the attacks over 8 da.
The president of the Business
Association said the targets
are not giant corporations.
Most of the businesses that
were affected are family owned.
And so the difference between
something that's unforeseen,
such as this circumstance,
can mean the difference betweena
positive and a negative month for them.
So it directly affects our
owners and our community.
Dan Anderson is one of those
business owners. He's had Andern
martial arts here for 38 years.
Three rocks flew through his windows.
Yeah. We have all three rocks ad
absolutely for our businesses.
It's frustrating because
you can't help but wonder,
if he were to have remained in ,
if these some of these things
could have been prevented.
You know, if I were in charge of the jail,
the key would be in the
Willamette River somewhere.
So you know how he feels about .
We also found damage at barley.
Sprout Pizza owner Dave Shank sd
the shattered window there will
likely cost him $1000 or more.
He said he hopes the rock
thrower gets the need,
the help that he needs,
and he wanted to thank the community.
There's been a lot of support fm
people around reaching out and trying
to help us, so appreciate that.
It is wonderful indeed when
friends and strangers show up to
help after something like that.
Too bad it's needed.
Now let's turn our focus to the court
system and take a closer look ae
alleged rock throwers Brief visits to jail.
According to the Multnomah Couns
District Attorney's Office,
the rock thrower was first arred
June 27th for breaking windows n
the 900 block of Northeast Hoga.
He was given a criminal citation
but not booked into jail.
And then two days later,
on June 29th,
Gresham police arrested him aga,
this time for breaking windows n
the 1600 block of Northeast Division.
And this time he was taken to j,
but was released 2 1/2 hours lar
without conditions before he was arraigned.
The DA's office said that releae
happened as part of the operating rules
set up by the courts presiding judge.
Those rules were required aftere
passage of Senate Bill 48 as pat
of a statewide effort to reducee
use of bail to hold defendants.
The DA's office also said the court's
risk assessment tool deemed the
rock thrower a low risk in failg
to appear for his court dates ad
a low risk to reoffend.
I should mention,
the court's public information
officer emailed me saying that s
not the court's risk assessment tool,
but rather a tool agreed to by e
DA's office and others in the system.
Either way. Guess what?
It was wrong about our rock thr.
He did fail to appear,
and he was charged with breaking more
windows on July 4th at 2:25 in the morning.
Witnesses called 911 after seeing the
same guy breaking windows in sel
businesses in downtown Gresham.
He was arrested and charged with
multiple counts of criminal misf
and booked into jail.
But then just five hours later e
was released because he was deed
a low risk under that same order
from the presiding judge. Come .
About 12 hours later, on the same day,
4th of July,
Gresham police arrested him aga,
this time for breaking windows t
the business on E Powell Blvd.
This time,
it actually looks like maybe he
was going to be held.
The court's offender risk score still
showed that now you should be released,
but a different presiding
judge's order overrode that.
That order says the defendants charged
with three property crimes or me
could be held until their arraignment.
This was his fourth arrest for a
property crime. So case closed, right?
Not exactly.
Turns out there's a shortage of
public defense attorneys these .
I know you've heard that.
It's true.
The court could not find our
rock thrower and attorney.
And so, yes,
he was released without
supervision or bail and is well,
who knows where he is tonight.
And that is a big problem.
So here's my opinion on this.
How many windows does it take?
How many?
I suspect a number of business owners
in downtown Portland have wonded
that themselves over the last fw
years, but tonight we're talking
about Gresham and a system thats
seriously broken. In my opinion,
there's no good reason for that person
to be out on the streets tonigh.
He should have been locked up somewhere,
either getting a mental health evaluation,
if that's the issue,
or sitting in a jail cell to think about
what he'd done and the fact that he's
somewhere out there tonight on his own.
Free to do whatever he wants.
That is astounding to me.
Do we really have to wait and
wonder what's going to happen n?
And I know, I know some of you might say,
look, in the big scheme of thin,
breaking windows is not the end of the world,
and this person has rights that
should be a protected okay.
But what about the rights of
the business owners in Gresham?
What about the small business os
that sweat and worry and work hd
to make a profit? What about th?
What about their rights?
The reason we're highlighting ts
case is because it points to a w
in the criminal justice system.
It's broken.
It should not be so inflexible
and one-size-fits-all.
It should be intelligent so that
someone like this can be held
after the second arrest,
not released every single time,
including after the 4th arrest.
Come on,
I often hear from viewers that you are
fed up with crime and I'm with .
Many of you think the system
is broken or overwhelmed.
Or both. It needs to change.
Sadly,
this is one more example that yu
are not wrong and that's too ba.
At least that's my opinion.
You don't have to agree with me,
but you do have to share yours.
e-mail us will you let me know
what you think the address is,
the story at kgw.com Or call
and leave a voicemail.
The number is 5 O
32265090. I really look
forward to hearing from you.