All Posts Tagged With: "Kaycee Faught"
Carl Foster in the hospital
Carl Foster, whose neck was broken when Coquille police officers arrested him for damaging a windshield, has been back in the hospital for almost a month but is expected to be released soon. Foster’s daughter, Kaycee Faught, is looking for a care home closer to where she is living and going to school in Washington.
Kaycee is working hard to provide for her family while going to school and caring for her dad. She hopes that by moving him closer this will be easier on her and her family.
Citizen review board finds Eugene police officer used undo force
A citizen review board in Eugene found that a police officer caused unnecessary harm to a member of the public.
The five-member advisory board reviews closed investigations of allegations against Eugene police employees. Although it has no power to change the outcome of an investigation, it serves as the public voice of the city’s new police oversight system, which includes an independent police auditor.
On Monday, the review board looked at a complaint filed by Eugene resident Levi Smith on Sept. 18, the day after an altercation with McBride left him with a fractured pelvis, bruised ribs and a neck injury.
The board does not use names in its reviews. However, a police report written by McBride and provided by Smith confirms the identities of the people involved.
While the review board has no real authority over the police department it does weigh in on behalf of the public and alerts citizens that an officer may be a problem. Some review boards are empowered to recommend disciplinary action or termination of a police officer.
Often when a district attorney wants to kill a case they use a grand jury to do that. We saw that happen in the Carl Foster case. The DA runs a risk if a civil suit ensues and reveals data that should have been presented to the grand jury and was not because the DA is charged with protecting the public.
Carl Foster moved to Portland facility
Carl Foster has stabilized enough now to move to a rehabilitation facility in Portland. Kaycee Faught, his daughter, is living nearby.
Nancy Keller, has decided to help raise awareness of Foster and his family. Personally, I found her flippant, dismissive and prejudicial commentary in her letter to the editor regarding Foster to be thoughtless and in poor taste so I am relieved to see her comments.
Thank you, Nancy, those of us who have been damaged or had our rights infringed upon by the Coquille PD are glad to know you are thinking of us as well.
UPDATE: Paula Knight who has been forwarding cards and well wishes to Kaycee Faught from the beginning recently had surgery. Please send her your thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
Also, a reminder that there is a fund setup at US Bank for Carl Foster which you can donate to to help Kaycee offset the costs of moving nearer her father.
Carl Foster health update
The halo immobilizing Carl Foster’s neck after surgery to stabilize damage caused by two Coquille police officers during a January 12, 2008 incident has been removed. Kaycee Faught confirms that Foster is rid of the cumbersome hardware and now has a neck support. Lately he has been sitting up in a chair, hospital staff have taken him outside for brief outings and he has had some additional surgery relating to his injuries.
Marathon session
What a whirlwind tour I have had these last two days traveling from the southern border of Oregon all the way to the top and back again. Managed a stop at the Roseburg VA Hospital to visit my son and learned much more about the program and the extent of the physiological damage caused by high levels of stress hormones on our troops. I am going to invite Dr Staggenborg from the VA clinic in Bandon to contribute to an article about PTSD and what our returning vets are facing in the future.
From there I went on to Portland for meetings with PSU about wind turbines, distributed energy, my own ultra cool generator and the future of power in Oregon and beyond. Dr Gerald Sheble will be contributing material and articles for a series on energy I want to write specific to the Oregon coast.
On my way home I stopped off in Eugene to meet with Carl Foster and Kaycee Faught. I am happy to report that Carl is speaking very well now though he has to wait for the ventilator to catch up to him and we were able to have a good conversation. There are many issues with quadriplegia that are worth educating the public about.
Anyway, I am a bit weary so I am not going to dig into the political scene ’til tomorrow morning.
Regarding DA press release on grand jury hearing
I have received a copy of the press release from the DA’s office and I understand The Sentinel has published the entire thing but I will not have time to review it here for a couple of days. Hopefully, schedule permitting, I will see Kaycee Faught and be able to go over what was presented to the jury with her.
A cursory glance, however, leads me to believe that civil trial lawyers will do a much better job of getting to the bottom of what happened to Carl Foster than the DA’s office did. Frasier will have a lot of explaining to do when that happens if he is to represent himself as a defender of the people and a law enforcement officer in his upcoming election.
Reactions are strong in opposition of grand jury finding
The World is reporting on the grand jury finding and the comments are overwhelmingly against the findings. DA Fraser in his press release makes the following statements
“My review reveals that there was sufficient probable cause to believe that Mr. Foster committed the crime of criminal mischief in the second degree for his act of throwing a coffee cup at the car and damaging the molding around the front driver’s door of Ms. Phillips’ car. ..,.†Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier said in a press release this morning.
According to the press release, Frasier chose not to charge the officers for a number of reasons, following an investigation by the Major Incident and Crimes Team, as well as by Michael Janin, an expert on the use of police force. Investigators concluded the officers had probable cause to arrest Foster, that Foster had resisted arrest and took a swing at Webley, and that the officers used an accepted method to take down the man.
“While the officers indicated that they thought Mr. Foster’s chest hit the ground first, the injury he suffered suggests that his chin also hit the ground hard and thus hyper-extended his neck towards his back,†the press release states.
Also, a doctor at Sacred Heart Medical Center, where Foster later underwent surgery, revealed a pre-existing degenerative condition in his neck.
Kaycee Faught notes that her father has osteoporosis. Nevertheless, the nature of the break still supports excessive force as cervical vertebra are normally porous.
Most appalling is the continued claim of resisting arrest as we have no evidence beyond the word of the two officers involved. Resisting arrest could be no more than taking ‘too long’ to get on the ground as Foster was nursing broken ribs. Enough of us have been lied to by the police department and witnessed their liberality with the truth in court to easily question anything they say.
People have to unite and stand up to this or it will only get worse. Please contact Agent Jason Cherry with the Eugene office of the FBI and report your own experiences with the Coquille PD. Write the State AG. Stand with a sign in front of Fraser’s office and whatever you do do not allow him to be elected to the office!
Grand jury votes six to one not to indict officers
Not a surprize to Kaycee Faught or her attorneys but the grand jury voted six to one not to indict the two Coquille police officers that caused the broken neck of Carl Foster during an arrest. After speaking with Kaycee today she is understandably disappointed but is nevertheless confident that her father will receive justice for his injuries.
Foster is learning how to redirect air from his ventilator to allow him to speak. Now that Foster is learning to speak his lawyers have begun interviewing him about details of the arrest. The recent grand jury decision in no way exonerates anyone’s conduct in this matter.
Carl Foster update
On my way back from Salem I stopped off at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene to see Carl Foster. His medical condition remains unchanged he has occupational and physical therapy everyday and therapy to help him speak and communicate. Foster will never be able to speak without a tracheal adaptor but there are charts behind his bed indicating the methods they are using to help him communicate. Also, present was Foster’s only surviving brother Terry Foster, a retired drug and alcohol counselor and his daughter Kaycee Faught.
Faught recently learned that while she has been away caring for her father, her home in Yakima, Washington was burglarized and she has lost almost everything. She regarded this as small doings compared to what she is going through with her father and his injuries.
Faught’s attorneys have advised her that the grand jury will probably not determine any fault on the part of the officers but that there are many avenues to pursue for both criminal and civil prosecution of the officers and the city in this affair. Information has been trickling in to her attorneys.
We joked about audio books with Carl and whether he like mysteries or romance or westerns. It was nice to see him smile
Dian has set up a donation fund at US Bank and Kaycee as a single mother can certainly use any help people can spare during this time.
Coquille City Council and video cameras
Last night, Dian presented a proposal to purchase video camera systems that would record all actions taken by the Coquille PD in the course of their duties. While I had to step out during that time, I believe she did an excellent job and I came back to hear one citizen offering to donate to a fund to raise the money needed for such an undertaking.
Dian is optimistic that the council will take this proposal seriously and I certainly hope that she is right. On the other hand I am admittedly pessimistic that without significant pressure from the public the council will do a thing.
The council did not take seriously the warnings they received last summer. They did not act then and they have not acted now and Carl Foster’s condition is a direct result of that failure on the part of the Coquille City Council. This is a blatant disregard for the very people that elected them and it borders on criminal negligence.
To date not one person from the city has contacted Kaycee Faught, Foster’s daughter, in any official or unofficial capacity. Notwithstanding an ongoing investigation even the unwilingness to bring up the issue at last night’s council meeting was telling. Linda Short made a point of sharing a tender story of one officer helping an old woman find a purse. The omission of the tragic, horrible events leading to Carl Foster becoming a quadriplegic, particularly in light of how important the matter is to the people of Coquille was a glaring refusal to take any responsibility for their failure to act.
Again and again, they take the word of Reaves and O’Connor over their own citizens.
Rural Organizing Project and more…
Attended a board meeting of ROP Saturday in Salem which is always informative, useful and exhausting. ROP will hold its annual caucus on April 26 this year in Hood River.
On the way back, Dian Courtright and I met Carl Foster and his daughter Kaycee Faught in Eugene at Sacred Heart Hospital. Kaycee is a delightful young woman, very bright and she clearly loves her father very much and I took some photos which I will put up here. It was very moving to watch him struggle to communicate with everyone and how much he uses his eyes and facial expressions. It was very clear how much he loves his daughter as well.
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