Video captures confrontation as police shoot, kill suspect
PORTLAND, Ore. – The man shot and killed by police in a hospital parking lot Sunday charged at police and was holding a black phone handset that officers mistook for a gun, police said Wednesday.
During a 5:30 p.m. news conference, police showed an approximately three-minute video shot by a nearby resident to show what happened during their confrontation with 50-year-old Merle Hatch who police said charged at them, forcing them to shoot and kill him. | Watch the video (warning: graphic content)
The incident happened Sunday night around 9:30 in a parking lot at Portland Adventist Medical Center in Southeast Portland, where Hatch was a patient.
Police said no gun was recovered at the scene of the shooting; however, they said before he confronted police in the hospital’s parking lot, Hatch stole a telephone handset, broke it in half and used it to simulate a handgun. | Click on the "listen" icon to hear police radio traffic from the incident
Security images show he confronted hospital security on two different occasions, police said.
The video captured Hatch taunting police, swearing at them and threatening to take hostages.
"Come on, play?" he yelled at police. "Close as you gonna get? That ain't close enough. Come on!"
Police Chief Mike Reese narrated a few times during the video. At one point the suspect was seen running across the parking lot. Reese said he was running toward officers. Moments later shots rang out.
The video captures the intensity of the situation that came to a climax during the last 30 seconds of the video.
As Hatch runs toward officers, an officer can be heard yelling, "Stop! Hands up!"
Hatch begins counting: "One!"
The officer yells again to Hatch to get his hands up.
Hatch yells, "Two!" and then "Three!"
Police open fire when Hatch is about 40 feet away. A cluster of shots is heard, followed by a single shot.
City officials also released audio from police radio traffic. Officers could be heard saying the suspect was walking toward them. They demand that he put up his hands and then the officers report the suspect has a gun.
During the news conference, police also displayed two still photographs from hospital security cameras showing Hatch confronting a security guard with the broken receiver before his confrontation with police. According to police, Hatch threatened the security guard.
In addition to the chief of police, Mayor Charlie Hales was at the news conference.
He said Reese contacted him immediately after the shooting, and he went to the scene and was there for a couple of hours. Hales said his staff was involved in the initial briefing the next day and he's having an ongoing discussion with Reese on the use-of-force issue and "those larger questions, obviously, are for another day."
He added that the police bureau has kept him fully informed about the incident.
Law enforcement sources told KATU News that Hatch was serving a 10-year sentence at a federal corrections institution in Sheridan, Ore. after being convicted in a 2004 bank robbery. Sources said Hatch was given a plane ticket and sent to a halfway house in Colorado on Feb. 12, but he never showed up.
The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday identified Hatch as the suspect in a bank robbery on Feb. 15. Sgt. Adam Phillips said Hatch robbed the Wells Fargo Bank located at 12072 SE Sunnyside Road in Clackamas. Hatch presented a teller with a note that said he had a gun. No one was hurt in the robbery.
Police said they have linked Hatch to another bank robbery that occurred Wednesday, Feb. 13 just after 2:30 p.m. at the Albina Community Bank at 5636 Northeast Sandy Blvd.
Portland police said Hatch was a career criminal with arrests in California, Arizona and Colorado on a variety of charges that included homicide, theft, burglary and bank robbery. Hatch appeared to have multiple aliases, investigators said.
The officers involved in the shooting are on administrative leave during the shooting investigation, which is standard procedure. They have been identified as:
- Sgt. Nathan Voeller, a 12-year veteran
- Officer Andrew Hearst, a 3-year veteran
- Officer Royce Curtiss, a 7-year veteran
After police conduct their investigation, the case will be handed over to the Multnomah County district attorney. The case will then be presented before a grand jury.
The officers involved in the shooting will remain on paid leave until after the grand jury completes its work.
Police said they will also conduct an internal investigation.
Authorities, citing privacy laws, have yet to say what problem led Hatch to seek medical attention.
Portland police have been under increased scrutiny since federal investigators determined last year that officers have engaged in a pattern of excessive force against people with mental illness. Police said Hatch had no documented history of mental illness.
Supposed to be in a halfway house
Last week Hatch was driven from the federal prison in Sheridan to Portland International Airport after getting out of prison a bit early with good behavior. He was sent on his way without any supervision.
That same scenario plays out with federal prisoners across the country every day, and it's rare they take off.
Every year the Bureau of Prisons sends inmates on their own to halfway houses.
Most federal prisoners live in a halfway house for the last several months of their sentence. A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson says the inmates are trusted to fly by themselves to their new halfway house home because "they have a lot to lose" by taking off and "the closer a prisoner gets to release, the risk of that activity declines."
A recent federal report says nearly 30,000 prisoners a year travel to their new halfway house without an escort. About 150 make a run for it.
It is unknown why Hatch did not get on that plane at PDX.
KATU News reporter Dan Tilkin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
He was a career criminal,he'd been in prison for murder, theft, burglary, armed robbery, etc.  Gooood ridence!!! No more taxpayer money going to keep him fed & housed!!!!!
This comment has been deleted
@Dr. Rawdog Yeah, about that, Raw. Merle Hatch thought that once, he was mistaken too.
@Dr. Rawdog Rawdog still needs attention, everybody.  I'm off shift. Somebody else's turn.
This comment has been deleted
@Dr. Rawdog @Playanekes My clients sign my checks. I post between appointments.
You're trying to get me to brag about the fact that my job is radically more interesting than yours (don't even need to know what it is) and that I get paid to do what I love.
I can also tell that this makes you very jealous, which is why you seek attention by saying ridiculously asinine things on the internet.
Appears to be a solid suicide by cop scenario...
@honorbound Looks and sounds like it to me. Case closed.
@washcomom @honorbound Well then. Washcomom has spoken. Nothing to see here. Everybody move along.
Ok so I feel much better now we know what really happened. Sounds like get got what he asked for and the police did not just shoot a guy they thought could be a threat without proper justification.
Thank you police for putting this guy out of his misery. It was a humane kill.
I think the police think we have an APP to simulate a gun on our phones now. Not funny but anyone from 14 yards can see a gun compared to a phone, I think the police are out of control. They need to be fired.
@Inverter Liberal-beloved police unions won't let the Mayor fire the bad cops, and will sue the taxpayers for trying.
You weren't there and have never had to determine whether somebody threatening to take hostages is carrying a gun or a phone, but, your armchair investigation skills are certainly worthy of consideration in any sort of grand jury testimony, so, why don't you offer your expertise up to the deceased's attorneys, or go Occupy a park or something?
@Playanekes @Inverter Are you threatening armchairs?
@Playanekes @Inverter Are there seriously a ton of "liberal" cops?  Seriously?
@PlayanekesWell, you got just about every stereotype in that rant you could. Â I'm very, very liberal on many issues and make no bones about it. Â I'm also very, very supportive of the US Constitution, every single part of it. So no, I wouldn't vote to ban any fire arms that aren't currently banned or highly regulated. Â I don't call LE any of the names you state, and how you tied the Occupy movement into your comment, I'll never know. Â My observation is that you do quite a bit of name-calling toward other commenters, but have a problem when someone uses a derogatory term in their assessment of how certain people behaved in a story. Â Seems like a double standard to me, isn't it?
@Sundowner @Playanekes @Inverter  Â
There are about ZERO liberal cops, liberals, so vote for socialist gun bans and see how that works. It's what we've been trying to tell you all along.
Do people honestly thing that liberals are going to sit around calling cops goons, thugs, and trigger-happy racist pigs, and THEN expect those same cops to go out and arrest each other's brothers, neighbors, hunting buddies or relatives because some liberal gun-tugging hypocrite backed by Occutards tells them to?
I'm not saying -you- believe that, but, it's out here, isn't it?
@Inverter Do you think there's a real Santa Clause too? Do everyone a favor and get the APP, idiot. I'm just wondering why the officers are STILL on leave, time off for good behavior perhaps?
Pretty obvious this fellows intent was to force the officers to kill him. Suicide by cop. The security officer inside a lighted hallway believed it was a handgun. He brandished it like a handgun and covered a lot of open ground before they fired on him, ignoring orders to stop. Those that are accusing the police of wrongdoing in this incident are biased and agenda driven. If you are going to wave this as a banner of bad police conduct,......good luck with that. It just demonstrates your foolishness. I would be suprised if this even goes to grand jury. To do so would be a waste of time. DA can make this call. Justified shooting.
According to Northwest Cable News, Democrat lawmakers want to make sure that the gun control debate doesn't get buried by the economy and budget debates.
That's because even though your child is more likely to die of cancer before maturity than to be involved in a mass-shooting, we have to make sure that the economy and the budget crisis aren't dealt with until the hoplophobic ninnie-state is appeased.
Let's not worry about Hanford, either. I'd rather the government blow money talking about how AR-15s than the fact that radiation is still leaking toward the Columbia River.Â
@Playanekes Keep crying like school girls
@Inverter @Playanekes
About the fact that one in three women are victims of sexual assault, that my friends are losing a child to cancer, or the radioactive waste in the Columbia River?Â
  vatcha thinkin I'll break my rule of responding to insensative comments like your just this once and say "you have no clue what you're talking about. I know what I watched on the video and know what I heard, and it doesn't take three or more cops to take down one man. Wise up and think of all the unarmed people who have been shot by cops in the past few years and how many were shot by more than one officer. There are cops out there that don't belong on the police force but because they are, they think all their shootings will be justified or covered up by their buddies. SO BACK OFF.
@BdouSo how would that play out .... You've joined the first two officers at the scene and you're assessing the situation.  Does he have an accomplice?  Are there any pedestrians in the area that could be in danger?  Could a vehicle drive into the scene and put someone in danger?  Does he have a vehicle, etc. etc.  In the meantime the guy across the parking lot who has been yelling and taunting decides that you're not trigger happy enough for his taste and since you haven't taken him up on his taunts, he decides to charge across the parking lot at you.  What do you do?  Well you can't all shoot so you have to decide who is going to shoot.  Now he's running so he's going to be on you in 6 or 8 seconds  What do you do?  The only thing you can do.  You call timeout.  Now because he understands the proper etiquette in these situations the guy stops.  Now you can confer with the other officers and decide who is going to shoot.  There are a lot of ways you could pick who is going to shoot, but time is of the essence so you quickly decide whoever has the highest score at their last firearms test will shoot.  You quickly compare scores and Bob has the highest score so Bob it is.  Now you have to decide whether to use deadly force.  You quickly decide that since he appears to have a gun, deadly force is necessary.  Now you have to decide how many times to shoot.  Bob thinks he can do it in one, but should take two just to be safe.  You also decide that Mike should be backup and shoot next just in case Bob misses.  Now you're set.  You managed to decide all this in less than a minute.  Quite impressive.  So you call time in.  The suspect resumes his charge and Bob shoots him.  He didn't go down right away so Bob shoots him again and he goes down .  Lucky you decided on two shots!  Yep I can see how that would work.  Just use the old timeout.  It seems obvious.  Of course Bdou, if you have another idea on how they would decide who's going to shoot, how many shots they're going to take, whether to use deadly force or to just "wing" him, in the time it takes for the suspect to run across the parking lot go ahead and present it. Â
@Bdou THREE officers independently felt threatened at the same time, after watching the video and hearing the dispatchers recording, who in their right mind could blame them? Excellent work PPB, excelllent.Â
This comment has been deleted
@TheUglyTruth Your he** with an analogy.
So a home owner shoots and kills a burgler and is in jail but the police shoot a crazy guy and they get paid vacation. Sounds about right.
@2012 Hope and Change The video (and the union) made all the difference.
I saw the video you idiots. A dozen plus shots to take down one man is rediculous. Trigger happy cops.
@Bdou Maybe they had to stop and re-load? The only "idiot" in this case is dead, as it should be. Well, the other idiot anyway.
Bdou- Did you expect the cops to take a sidebar and decide who gets to kill the POS? Cops are never trained to shoot to wound. LE is always trained to overwhelm the suspect with as many officers that can respond. Thatâs what keeps the mentally challenged like you safe.
@BdouI guess you watch a lot of TV cop shows don't you.  I'm sure that makes you an expert.  A dozen shots is about 4 shots each in the space of about 3 seconds at a charging man they think has a gun.  Unlike TV if someones charging you, you don't wait to see if he is going to shoot. Unlike TV you don't take turns shooting.  Unlike TV you don't shoot once and see if he is hit.  Unlike TV you don't "wing" him with one shot in the shoulder.  And unlike TV you don't hit him with every shot.  Its entirely possible that as many as half the shots missed.  If they were good, they probably hit him 4 or 5 times in vital areas. Â
If you think someone is charging at you with a gun and he's not going to stop until he gets to you, you fire until he is down and not moving. Â You should probably stick to your TV shows.
Mental patients sometimes lose cognition in an esculated state. They aren't aware of orders being given when their cognition lowers. Getting shot and killed for holding a cell phone....Unforgivable!!!!!. Police need to be trained better on dealing with the mentally ill. He did not deserve to die!!! Protect the mentally ill amongst us. PLEASE!
@Just Me They cured his "mental illness" in one evening. Problem solved.
@Just Me "Getting shot and killed for holding a cell phone"Â FOR THREATENING TO TAKE HOSTAGES AND THEN RAMPAGING TOWARD THE POLICE YOU FOOL!
Here's to hoping you're the next victim, instead of somebody else. You have a lot of real-world learning to do.Â
@Just Me Next time perhaps you can come to the scene, walk up to the person and check to see if the gun is real or not.  If it's not, then you can inform the police.  If it is a real gun, oh well.
@Just Me Â
This man clearly wanted to die. It's also clear that you have never been in an encounter like this. The police clearly believed the man had a gun. They were told he had a gun and he made the phone look like a gun. It was dark with poor lighting and a suspect who is moving around. Then he gave a count down to make them think he a was about to shoot. I'm sorry, but he forced them to shoot him. Forcing someone to kill you is unforgivable.
@Just Me He was cognitive enough to steal a black land line handset (not cell phone). He then broke the handset to make it look more like a gun and tucked it into the the front of his jeans, holding it as though it were a pistol. The cops had a man threatening to take hostages, taunting the cops, and then charging the cops with something that he made to deliberately look like a weapon. He refused all orders to stop. No sympathy for this flaming idiot.Yes, his actions deserved a swift response and if his death was the result, so be it.Â
This comment has been deleted
@Dr. Rawdog @Just Me Yeah. The lawyers and bureaucrats and state doctors who did nothing to fix him, and the parole officers and all the people who let him out of the system when he was OBVIOUSLY ready... they'll all make a chunk of money off of this, the union lawyers will make fat cash, somebody will sue somebody and more liberals will make fat cash, the union will flex its muscle over the Mayor and the Chief, millions of taxpayer dollars will be wasted, the investigation will conclude that the shooting was justified, or at least impossible to prove otherwise, Armchair Internal Investigators such as yourself will still hate cops, Feinstein will still use liberals as tools to try to convince us that the police are here to protect us...
...and a felonious human butt-hole is dead. Haw Haw! Â
The only problem is how much money it takes liberal society to do the right thing. Obviously, it must chafe you that this isn't going to cost the middle class enough money. All other points will arrive at the same conclusion.
@Just Me It was not a cell phone. Did you just get out of 1400 or 1500 at Adventists?
This skel went out of his way to provoke a shooting by simulating a weapon, challenging the police and then charging at them. It was a justified shooting. The skel had a lengthy history of violence which results from a characterlogical disorder (antisocial personality), NOT a psychotic disorder. He knew right from wrong and was in touch with reality. The reality is, the world is a better place without him.
Hmmm... Police didn't go crazy grabbing this person's cell phone, a la Letsis, for video-recording this? Interesting.
Sounds like the guy had a death wish. Â
Culled another from the gene pool. Glad the police were there to react to this guy's threats. This time he didn't have a gun but had he gotten away who knows what, who, when or how. Sorry for the possible emotions those who had to shoot are going through but very happy they shot before this guy could get away and shoot innocents somewhere.
This comment has been deleted
@Dr. Rawdog @Open Book Next time we should let you and the other bleeding hearts approach the threat and pull our police back. If you get shot or stabbed, then we'll think about sending the cops back in. But there might be another one of you who would rather risk your own life than let the guy be killed. Put yourself in the exact moment with the exact threat. Oh, that takes empathy for the police and heaven forbid we display anything like that.
Another one bites the dust..Â
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWsJcg-g1pg
WATCHED THE VIDEO.
THANK YOU PPB, FOR SPEEDING UP THE PROCESS OF DARWINISM.
I think a broken in half handset the way it's shaped could be mistaken for a gun especially the way he is holding it kind of half concealed.I will leave it up to the expert investigators determine if the shooting was justified.I'm not privy or knowledgable about police training to issue a well informed opinion.I am however greatful to our women and men in blue who put themselves into potential deadly situations like this to protect the public from dangerous criminals.
Job well done, PPB. Enjoy your paid time off, officers. He sounded like a real class act.Â
Good shoot.
Lesson - Don't pretend a phone handset is a gun.
Well, that' pretty much settles it. It was justified as soon as he said he was going to take hostages. Everything after that was just patience on the part of the police. My questions have been answered.
@Playanekes Settles what? The fact the guy was a jackass? I'll give you that much. I guess it also settles the fact the PPB is trigger happy and had no intention of de-escalating the situation. The video doesn't prove a damn thing. The only voice I hear is his, certainly don't here the police giving him commands except for when the unload on him.
@axpman So?
he was involved in a homicide and violent acts so,did you read the article or do you excuse these acts and should coddle him even more,oh what is it now, how can we make you feel better about yourself so you dont need to taunt police,threaten others ect...
@Playanekes Is it policy for police to give an "armed" individual plenty of room so as to take hostages? Is it police policy to make sure there are plenty of bystanders in the vicinity of said individual in order for the remainder of bystanders to run away? Should these bystanders be visible, potential, hostages in the immidiate area or is just the threat enough for officers to keep their distance. This is just a start.
This still sounds like it was handled poorly. My sympathy is with the officers but, perceived or real, poor decision making must be addressed.
@33 "Is it policy for police to give an "armed" individual plenty of room so as to take hostages?"
No, you give the guy room to cool off, and space to observe him. It's not a movie set. The police have to figure out what's going on and how to react real time, not all Hollywood-like.
"This is just a start."
The next part is letting the armchair detectives who've never served tell everybody how it ought to be, while also arguing for greater collective bargaining rights such that when an unarmed, nonthreatening man IS shot, the Police Chief and Mayor can't even fire him even if he loses the civil lawsuit.
Which is the liberal chicken coming home to roost. It ain't the conservatives protecting the bad cops, it's the union. And I get the e-mail crap from the Oregon democrats about the necessity for unions, so, it is what it is because voters made it so.
@Playanekes I agree. He threatened to take hostages, he taunted the cops. He charged the cops with a black phone that he purposefully broke and carried to appear like a gun. He disobeyed all commands to stop. His actions were deliberate. The shooting was justified.Â
@Playanekes Yeah, that's nothing to clown around about. It's an officers duty to serve and protect. Waiting until he has a hostage is too late.Â
@Playanekes Ditto