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Cafe owner kicks out police officer - KOINLocal6.com
Cafe owner kicks out police officer
PORTLAND, Ore. - It was early Tuesday afternoon, May 18th, Cornelia Seigneur was having lunch with her daughter at the Red and Black Cafe at Southeast 12th and Oak.
Seigneur had struck up a conversation with Portland Police officer James Crooker who had just picked up coffee to go. Then Seigneur said one of the cafe's owners approached and said something that stunned Seigneur.
"He looked at the policeman and said I'd like you to leave," she said.
The officer left without incident, but Seigneur says she was both shocked and disappointed that an officer was run out of a cafe simply because of his profession.
"I felt just really uncomfortable -- just really uncomfortable about it and I felt many of our customers and co workers would not feel safe in a space with a uniformed police officer with a gun," said Red and Black Cafe co-owner John Langley.
Langley says he's not trying to make a statement. Rather he says he was trying to make the cafe feel safe and comfortable for customers -- many of whom feel preyed upon by Portland Police.
Langley says many customers and co-workers feel Portland Police abuse power. Langley says many people who feel that abuse are customers.
Positive and negative feedback
The Facebook page for the Red & Black Cafe has more than 800 supporters. The page announced the Cafe received more positive than negative phone calls, but there is also a Boycott the Red & Black Cafe page on Facebook (more than 2,500 supporters).
Portland Police Bureau shootings
Aaron Campbell was shot in the back Jan. 29 after refusing to follow orders to lie on the ground. Officers shot non-lethal beanbag rounds at him first, but Campbell still did not comply and actually started to run away from officers when he was shot in the back. He was unarmed.
Jack Collins was shot multiple times by a Portland Police officer March 22 at the Hoyt Arboretum. Collins, a homeless man with mental issues, was using a razor blade knife to threaten people in the park. Collins did not comply to officers' orders to lie down.
Portland Police fired 32 shots at Keaton Otis, hitting the 25-year-old 23 times on May 12. Otis lead police on a chase through many Portland city blocks, refusing to pull over despite flashing lights and multiple orders over a loud speaker. Otis still did not comply after he was Tasered twice. Otis pulled out a gun and shot Officer Christopher Burley twice in the leg. That's when other officers unloaded 32 rounds at Otis, hitting him 23 times.
Officer Crooker's response
Officer James Crooker has been with Portland Police for two years and says he wasn't aware of the prevailing attitute toward police among co-owners of the Red and Black Cafe when he went in for coffee to go and was subsequently asked to leave because he is a police officer.
Crooker says he has mixed emotions about being asked to leave. During his tour of duty in Iraq in 2004, he grew an appreciation, he says, for people's willingness and freedom to challenge authority. In Iraq, says Crooker, people would never confront an authority figure. So in one sense he says he was slightly humiliated and disappointed. On the other hand, Crooker says, he's appreciative of a country that allows people to question who ever they want -- concerning what ever they want.
Right to Refuse Service
According to LegalZoom and LegalMatch, places of business like restaurants and cafes have the right to refuse service for specific reasons.
LeagalZoom cites the Unruh Civil Rights Act from 1959 as protection against discrimination by business owners. The law was named for Jesse Unruh, who wrote the law. According to LegalZoom, “business owners could not discriminate, for example, against hippies, police officers, homosexuals, or Republicans, solely because of who they were.”
LegalMatch says that even though restaurants may be privately owned, “the primary purpose of a restaurant is to sell food to the general public, which necessarily requires susceptibility to equal protection laws.”