Mental Health Association of Portland

By Chris Conrad, Mail Tribune, March 25, 2012

Toxicology report on Elias Ruiz called ‘surprising’ because of his actions before fatal Medford incident

Elias Angel Ruiz

A toxicology report performed on Elias Angel Ruiz showed the 18-year-old was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol when police shot him dead on Jan. 22 after he charged them with a knife in his hand.

Medford police Lt. Mike Budreau said the results were surprising, considering Ruiz’s highly agitated state before the shooting.

“He was acting very much like someone who would be under the influence of some intoxicant,” Budreau said.

Ruiz was shot in front of his home in the 800 block of Pennsylvania Avenue after he threatened members of his family.

Police were called to the home after dispatch received a 911 call from the residence in which the caller hung up after a dispatcher heard a voice in the background yelling, “Help, help.”

The dispatcher eventually called back and spoke with an Alejandra Ruiz, who said her son had armed himself with a knife and was destroying items inside the home.

She also said that, before locking himself in a room, Ruiz said he wanted to stab himself. Police said she told them that he had struck his head several times with a picture frame.

Medford police officers Jason Antley and Brian Hall arrived on the scene and attempted to coax Ruiz out of the house and place him in custody.

However, Ruiz suddenly flung open the door and charged the officers with a large knife in his hand.

Antley stumbled and fell, but not before firing the fatal rounds that struck Ruiz in the left armpit, left bicep, twice in the upper left leg and once at the base of the neck.

Investigators found a second knife in Ruiz’s pants pocket and later found a “butterfly knife” in another pocket. The knife he had in his hands during the incident had an 8-inch blade.

Ruiz also was wearing a bulletproof vest under his shirt at the time of the shooting.

A grand jury later determined the officers were justified in using deadly force against Ruiz.

Budreau said Ruiz was most likely suffering from some sort of mental breakdown in the moments leading up to the shooting.

“We can’t say for sure what was going on with him because of how the incident ended,” Budreau said.

Budreau said the department handles several mental health calls each day.

Medford police records show officers answered 370 mental health calls in 2011, up from 196 in 2010.

“Mental health issues keep us busy every year,” Budreau said.

See also:

MHAP: Previous coverage related to Elias Angel Ruiz

Mail Tribune: Unanswered questions, grief after shooting

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Brad Lee Morgan smiles at his son, Kannon.

By James Mazzocco, on BlueOregon.com

It was January 25, and Brad Morgan wanted to die.

Maybe it was earlier. He had problems. A day, a week, or a month before — nobody can know for sure. All the same, Brad Morgan knew it was time.

A tragic event has the power to cause us to inspect it minutely. We turn it over and over in our minds, searching for meaning: a lesson, a parable, or a moral mnemonic.

The result is almost always a banal lie we tell ourselves individually and collectively. It is cheap and convenient. Whether to salve pain, gain absolution, or conveniently sop tears of shame and frustration, that lie is above all human, but the price is that we are left casting about for a reason why.

The banal lie in Brad Morgan’s death is a socially acceptable euphemism for manslaughter commonly known as “suicide by cop.” It is the same lie police spokesmen have used to describe the deaths of Aaron Campbell, Keaton Otis, Jack Collins, Darryel Ferguson, Anthony McDowell, Jimmy Georgeson, Elias Angel Ruiz, Larry McKinney, and many others. In each of these cases, a suicidal man was killed by someone other than himself. When a life is cut short by another person, it is wrong to call it suicide — especially when the man behind the trigger is a police officer.

Just 21 years old and a new father, Brad Morgan climbed an elevator tower at a downtown parking garage and used his cell phone to tell the 9-1-1 operator that he planned to kill himself.

Long before that moment, it had gone too far. Brad Morgan’s fate was sealed when he did exactly what we are all taught to do from childhood.

Every social service agency, mental health provider, church therapist, doctor’s office, and hundreds of others who provide help in crises have similar after-hours greetings. We have all heard the familiar final words without paying too much attention: “If this is a life-threatening emergency, please hang up and dial 9-1-1.”

He may or may not have heard those words, but he did exactly as they instructed.

Brad Morgan now had two problems: Not only did he want to die, but police were on their way.

When 9-1-1 is the default overnight number for hundreds of agencies that promote their ability to help in a crisis, we have effectively criminalized mental illness. We force police, at best lightly trained in mental health issues, to be all-night, ad hoc therapists — a proven poor match.

When cops learn by trial and error, our friends die.

It is not a crime to be mentally ill. It is not a crime to be drunk or high. And it is not a crime to attempt or commit suicide.

It is, however, a crime to assist a suicide. To intentionally cause or aid another person to kill himself is second-degree manslaughter.

In a more just society, the officer who fired the fatal shot would be facing six years, three months in prison.

The 9-1-1 transcript reveals that Brad Morgan told the dispatcher, “I’d actually prefer for a police officer to shoot me at this point. I am not looking forward to this jump.”

To face criminal charges as a result of assisting a suicide is rare. A prudent person would never help. Imagine a distraught man in a hardware store, tears streaming down his face, clothing torn, in obvious anguish, demanding of the bewildered shopkeeper, “Show me how to tie a noose!”

Brad Morgan told a 9-1-1 operator that he wanted a cop to shoot him. That operator passed the call to the police, along with the details of Morgan’s desire to be shot by them. Informed by this banal lie we have all unthinkingly agreed to call “suicide by cop,” and expecting that they would be tasked with ending Morgan’s life, police hurried to arrive at the scene of a foregone conclusion. As always, they were ill-trained to handle a mental health situation.

How is it that our hypothetical shopkeeper is able to refuse to give instruction in tying a noose, but our police bureau is unable to field officers capable of refraining from shooting a man who is actively seeking to be shot? Why didn’t the Morgan grand jury bring a charge against the officers involved?

Astonishingly, they could not. The wrong training is provided to our police, and the wrong charge was put before the grand jury.

The proper training would have taught our police not to facilitate “suicide by cop,” and the proper charge would have been assisting a suicide.

Desiring, attempting, or completing suicide is a lonely, broken expression of intolerable pain. It is not a criminal enterprise, but a public health matter. To effectively make suicidal thoughts criminal, simply because we have no mental health safety net, is inexcusable.

We failed Brad Morgan, and in doing so, failed ourselves.

James Mazzocco is on the Advisory Council of the Mental Health Association of Portland.

By Damian Mann, Mail Tribune, February 23, 2012

A memorial in front of Ellias Ruiz's west Medford home appeared soon after the shooting. (File Photo)

An 18-year-old west Medford man shot and killed by police Jan. 22 after he charged them with a knife had been arrested five weeks earlier in Santa Cruz, Calif., on suspicion of assault.

“He used a baseball bat and hit his father,” said Jesus Delgadillo, assistant district attorney in Santa Cruz County, adding the injuries did not appear to be serious.

A little more than a month later, Elias Angel Ruiz came out the front door of his house in the 800 block of Pennsylvania Avenue and attempted to slash officers with a butcher knife, causing one of the officers to open fire. Ruiz was pronounced dead at the scene.

What prompted Ruiz to confront police is unknown. But details of his recent past — including that he may have been bullied at school and had occasional outbursts at home — and the chaos that surrounded those few seconds are revealed in a Medford police investigation, obtained recently by the Mail Tribune.

Officers and witnesses described a wild scene in which two bullets whizzed down a residential street, striking a neighbor’s Mazda Miata and a concrete porch. In the midst of the confusion, a police officer mistakenly feared he had been wounded by a stray bullet after he fell to the ground, injuring his hip.

“I think I’ve been hit,” Medford Officer Brian Hall told another officer shortly after he fired Taser darts at Ruiz while falling to the ground.

The darts didn’t stop Ruiz, who was wearing a bulletproof vest under his clothing.

Officer Jason Antley fired six rounds from his .40-caliber Glock handgun at Ruiz. Five rounds penetrated Ruiz’s body.

Hall told investigators he felt the energy of the shots from Antley’s gun blasting past his face, but he was not struck. He told another officer at the scene he was fearful that Ruiz was going to stab him.

Hall and Antley were the only officers who approached the front door of the Ruiz house. According to police reports, the confrontation between the officers and Ruiz took place within a 6-foot area. After Antley fired his gun, he also fell backwards while retreating, the reports said.

Antley said later he had worried about crossfire because of his close proximity to Hall, who was attempting to pull his gun out of his holster while he was on the ground.

Prior to the Medford shooting, Ruiz had been arguing with his mother, Maria Alejandra Ruiz, according to police reports.

A neighbor, Evonne Maxine Hubbard, said the mother told her a dispute erupted inside the house when the Ruiz family was preparing dinner. Hubbard said the mother took a meat cleaver away from her son, who then smashed a picture frame over his head.

Hubbard said Ruiz’s mother told her she initially didn’t want to call police because it would make the situation worse. Police responded to 9-1-1 calls from Ruiz and his mother.

Hubbard told police there had been a lot of conflict in the family and Elias Ruiz had been bullied at school, but did not elaborate further.

Hubbard indicated she overheard an officer apologizing to Ruiz’s mother shortly after the shooting. “I’m sorry,” the officer reportedly said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice.”

Medford police Lt. Curtis Whipple said he observed Ruiz’s mother yelling at Antley, asking him why he had shot her son. Whipple took Antley from the scene to avoid any further volatility, his report said.

At police headquarters, Ruiz’s mother declined medical assistance, Whipple said. “She was emotional and advised she did not want any additional help from MPD because she did not want to be shot,” he said. He said a private party took the mother to Rogue Valley Medical Center.

Lt. Mike Budreau, Public Information Officer, said in an interview he couldn’t see any other course of action the officers could have taken that would have avoided the shooting. Prior to knocking on the front door, the officers attempted to call Ruiz by cellphone.

“If he is actively hurting himself, there’s got to be some attempt to try and save him,” he said. “I don’t see any Monday morning quarterbacking about how we could do things differently.”

In many other calls, officers have saved lives by intervening in suicide attempts, he said.

“Not responding is not an option,” Budreau said. “He could still die while they are outside waiting. Most of the time, we are able to talk people out of it and into medical attention.”

Budreau said one of the biggest surprises for officers in the shooting was the bulletproof vest Ruiz wore under his clothes.

The vest was traced to Florida but is the same type issued to Medford police, though officers also insert trauma plates into pockets on the vest for additional protection. Police said they don’t know how Ruiz obtained the vest.

The hollow-tipped bullets used by police are generally designed to hit a target, then mushroom out so they don’t come out the other side and injure a bystander, Budreau said.

One of the five bullets that hit Ruiz apparently exited his body and flew down the street, though investigators haven’t determined which one.

Budreau said one of the stray bullets dented the driver’s side rear quarter panel of the Mazda Miata. The bullet bounced off the car, ending up a few feet from the car, he said.

The investigation into the shooting has concluded, Budreau said, though investigators are still awaiting completion of the toxicology report on Ruiz to determine if he was drinking or using drugs.

The Ruiz family could not be reached, but the family has hired the firm of Kafoury & McDougal to investigate whether the police response was excessive.

The Ruiz family had earlier called the shooting unjustified, though a Jackson County grand jury determined on Feb. 8 it was justified.

The Santa Cruz District Attorney’s Office said Ruiz did not resist arrest when a deputy from Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of a fight at 8:24 a.m. Dec. 16 in a residential neighborhood about a mile from the Pacific Ocean.

The father’s injuries didn’t require medical treatment, according to Delgadillo. Ramiro Adame Ruiz told police he and his son had been arguing prior to the assault, Delgadillo said.

Delgadillo said he found no information that Ruiz was involved in any gang activity.

Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476, or email dmann@mailtribune.com.

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By Chris Conrad, Mail Tribune, Thursday, February 09, 2012

Mail Tribune / Julia Moore
From left, Oregon State Police Detective Bryan Scott, Jackson County Senior Deputy District Attorney Terri Smith-Norton and Medford Police Chief Tim George hold a press conference regarding the police shooting of Elias Angel Ruiz Wednesday at Oregon State Police headquarters in Central Point.

After a five-hour hearing, it took a grand jury just six minutes to rule that Medford police were justified in the shooting of 18-year-old Elias Angel Ruiz outside his mother’s home Jan. 22.

The Jackson County grand jury heard testimony Wednesday from 14 witnesses, including the two officers who said they were charged by the knife-wielding Ruiz outside the home in the 800 block of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The investigation into the shooting was described to the grand jury, which deliberated in the time it takes for a coffee break before entering its verdict. “The grand jury determined the shooting was in accordance with Oregon law,” Jackson County Senior Deputy District Attorney Terry Smith-Norton said.

Medford police said they responded to Ruiz’s home after dispatch received a 9-1-1 call from the residence, in which the caller hung up after a dispatcher heard a voice in the background yelling, “Help, help.”

A dispatcher reported calling back and speaking with an emotional Alejandra Ruiz, who said her son had armed himself with a knife and was destroying items inside the home.

She also said that, before locking himself in a room, Ruiz said he wanted to stab himself. Police said she told them that he had struck his head several times with a picture frame.

Shortly thereafter, Medford Officers Jason Antley and Brian Hall arrived on the scene and approached the front door.

Another officer positioned himself in the back of the residence.

Smith-Norton said Antley and Hall told the grand jury they tried to call Ruiz on his phone but received no response. They tried to open the door and found that it was locked, so they began knocking while announcing themselves as police.

At some point, Antley had drawn his gun, while Hall had drawn a Taser, Medford Police Chief Tim George said in an interview after the grand jury decision. “They had both levels of force ready, because they weren’t sure of the situation at that point,” George said.

After several minutes of repeated knocking, Smith-Norton said, the door “flew” open and Ruiz charged the officers while making slashing motions with a large knife.

Antley and Hall said they retreated as Ruiz approached them. Both officers fell down, at which time Antley fired his gun at Ruiz, striking him five times.

Investigators determined Ruiz was between two and six feet from the officers when the shots were fired. Ruiz was hit in the left armpit, left bicep, twice in the upper left leg and once at the base of the neck.

In all, Antley fired six shots from his .40-caliber Glock handgun. One of the rounds struck a nearby car, while another hit a concrete porch near the same car.

Hall had fired his Taser at nearly the same time Antley fired his gun. The Taser’s prongs struck Ruiz. After firing the Taser, Hall testified, he scrambled to pull his gun, but Ruiz already was on the ground.

Both officers testified the encounter lasted only a few seconds and there wasn’t time to order Ruiz to disarm and stop advancing.

Another officer approached Ruiz as he lay on the ground and put him in handcuffs. The officer removed the knife from Ruiz’s hand before paramedics attempted to revive him. He was soon pronounced dead at the scene.

Medford police say they found these three knives on Elias Ruiz following his shooting by a police officer.

Investigators saw a second knife protruding from Ruiz’s pants pocket and later found a “butterfly knife” in another pocket. The knife he had in his hands during the incident had an 8-inch blade.

“This was a weapon that could have done serious or deadly damage to these officers,” George said.

Ruiz was wearing a bulletproof vest underneath his large flannel shirt. The vest was a Safariland brand, which was issued to a police agency in Florida in 2006.

Investigators were not able to determine how Ruiz obtained the vest.

Oregon State Police Detective Bryan Scott conducted the investigation. He said a toxicology test was performed on Ruiz, but the results were not yet available.

“Those can take several weeks to return,” Scott said.

Ruiz’s mother was not available for comment Wednesday, but she did approve a statement through an attorney the family hired to investigate the death.

The firm of Kafoury & McDougal specializes in excessive-force complaints against police. Jason Kafoury, an attorney at the firm, said the family expected the grand jury to rule the shooting was justified.

“Indictments are rarely handed down in police shootings,” Kafoury said. “The district attorney has selectively released grand jury testimony, and the family demands they release all the grand jury testimony.”

In a written statement, the firm criticized the grand jury process as secretive and one-sided in favor of the police.

Kafoury said the firm will request the complete police report and will talk to witnesses before proceeding with their case. Kafoury did not comment on what the family is seeking and would not speak to specifics of the firm’s investigation.

“There’s a lot to do on this,” Kafoury said.

Kafoury did say that Ruiz sometimes wore the bulletproof vest in his home because he feared gang violence and the police.

Antley has been with the Medford Police Department for nine years. He is a defensive-tactics instructor and has been trained in suicide prevention.

Hall is a 17-year officer, who has been a member of the SWAT team for 13 years. He also has extensive training in suicide prevention, George said.

“These are both tenured, experienced officers,” George said. “Their training took over in this case, otherwise they could have lost their lives.”

A memorial service for Ruiz is planned for Saturday at Kids Unlimited, 821 N. Riverside Ave., in Medford. The event is open to the public and will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Reach reporter Chris Conrad at 541-776-4471 or email cconrad@mailtribune.com.

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By Damian Mann, Mail Tribune, January 23, 2012

A west Medford neighborhood is reeling after a police officer shot to death an 18-year-old Sunday after he brandished a butcher knife on his front porch — the second time law enforcement has used deadly force in a little more than two weeks.

Bob Pennell
Clinton McDonald describes the scene outside his window Sunday afternoon after Medford police shot and killed a young man on Medford’s Pennsylvania Street. “I don’t know how many shots maybe more than six,” said McDonald.

Elias Angel Ruiz, who police said couldn’t be subdued with a stun gun, was pronounced dead at the scene at 812 Pennsylvania St., after officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at 2:21 p.m., according to Medford Police Chief Tim George.

An officer was treated and released after falling to the ground, injuring his hip.

Neighbors say multiple shots were fired, though the exact number hasn’t been confirmed by Medford police yet.

“I don’t know how many shots — maybe more than six,” said Clinton McDonald, a 31-year-old father who lives on nearby Summit Avenue.

He said Ruiz’s mother, who was standing outside his house, cried out, “Why did you shoot my son?”

According to Jackson County records, the house was purchased in 1994 by Ramiro and Alejandra Ruiz.

View Full Size     (Bob Pennell / Mail Tribune photo)

Medford's Pennsylvania Street was blocked to traffic as police investigate the shooting.

McDonald said he pulled his daughter out of a baby swing next to a window when the gunshots started, fearing one of them would strike her.

“I think it is very unfortunate that they were shooting down a street in a neighborhood,” he said.

This is the second law enforcement shooting in recent weeks. On Jan. 5, 20-year-old fugitive James “Jimmy” Georgeson was shot by U.S. Marshals outside a west Medford grocery store. Georgeson was a career criminal with drug and mental health problems and had a history of assaulting police officers, according to criminal records.

The investigation into the shooting of Ruiz will follow procedures laid out in the Jackson County Deadly Force Plan.

Under the plan, all responding officers at the shooting surrender weapons to an evidence officer. An autopsy must be performed on the victim. Police officers have video cameras that also are reviewed as part of the investigation.

George said an investigation is under way to determine how many shots were fired and in what direction. The investigation will be conducted to determine if only one officer fired his weapon, he said. George said he wouldn’t disclose the names of the two officers directly involved, but said they would be placed on mandatory administrative leave until the case is presented to a Jackson County grand jury.

Separate 9-1-1 calls came in from both the mother and son, George said, so police still are trying to determine the events surrounding the dispute.

George said Ruiz was making suicidal threats to police dispatch. Ruiz was screaming for help, and the mother was heard crying, George said.

As many as four officers responded to the scene after dispatchers said Ruiz had armed himself with a knife, locked himself inside the house and struck himself with an unknown object, George said.

The mother and her 13-year-old son had left the house before officers arrived, George said. Officers attempted to call Ruiz at the scene. They found the front door locked, George said.

When Ruiz appeared on the front porch, he brandished a butcher knife and an officer attempted to use a stun gun, George said. He said he couldn’t confirm how far the officer was standing from Ruiz. Stun guns used by police can either be used up close or from a distance of about 15 feet away.

When the stun proved unsuccessful, George said a second officer used deadly force. George didn’t reveal the names of the officers.

“This is traumatic for the family members, and for everybody else involved in this,” George said.

The entire confrontation took place between the sidewalk and front porch, he said. Officers are authorized to use deadly force if the circumstances for that type of force are reasonable, George said.

He said he wouldn’t speculate on the distance an officer could be standing from someone who is brandishing a knife in order to justify using deadly force.

“These are complex, lengthy and detailed investigations,” he said.

An unsuccessful attempt to resuscitate Ruiz was made after the shooting, George said.

The Oregon State Police is the lead agency involved, but other local jurisdictions have been called in as well. The Jackson County Major Assault and Death Investigation Unit is investigating the shooting.

Investigators worked into Sunday night, erecting a canopy over the death scene, while a police van was stationed at the street. They will continue the investigation today.

Police cars buzzed through the neighborhood during the day and crime scene tape blocked off a portion of Pennsylvania St.

Joyce Snell, a 65-year-old neighbor, said the shooting has set her and her husband on edge because they are already concerned about people coming to their house at night.

“We keep our doors locked, and we don’t answer after dark,” she said.

She said she heard noises sometime after 2 p.m, but thought the wind had picked up a trash can, making it rattle across the street.

“We heard four loud noises right in a row,” she said.

Snell, like other neighbors, didn’t know the Ruiz family, but she said she’d never heard any other disturbances from the house.

Lee Teague, a 59-year-old neighbor, said he was a little concerned because he didn’t see or hear anything until he saw police cars roaming through the neighborhood.

“I’m really shaken by the fact that I didn’t hear it,” he said.

Teague said he doesn’t understand why anyone would threaten an officer.

“You don’t assault police officers — they’ve got guns,” he said. “I’m just sad people are making decisions to put their own lives in danger.”

Kathy Cupp, a 54-year-old neighbor, said the neighborhood is usually very quiet, and she never heard any other disturbances at the Ruiz household.

“It’s sad,” she said. “You hate to hear it’s a kid.”

Cupp said she thinks several gunshots were fired.

“I heard a pop, pop, pop, and then I saw the police running everywhere,” she said.

Cupp said she thinks the police are trying to do the best they can in a dangerous situation.

“I feel bad for the policeman,” she said. “I feel bad for everybody.”