Some grief and grieving and anger and sadness that many of us are dealing with right now

These two photographs concern the death of Derrick Clark in Milwaukee, Oregon. A statement from
Mr. Clark's family reads as follows (slightly edited):

Derrick Clark Family Statement on the Grand Jury No True Bill of 11/29/22

The family of Derrick Clark is profoundly disappointed that Dan Ferguson and Zachary Cole will not face criminal charges; however, the family was well aware that it was unlikely they would receive justice through the grand jury.

Oregon, like most states, gives officers wide discretion to use whatever force they reasonably believe is necessary to make an arrest or to protect themselves, a standard that hinges on the officer’s perceptions of danger during the encounter.

The bottom line is Derrick Clark was running away from the police when he was shot and killed. He never shot at the police, nor does it appear he pointed a gun at them. A gun was found no where near his body. After shooting Derrick, they did not render aid for 2 hours.

It took the police 49 hours to inform Derrick’s family of his death, the weekend of Juneteenth, despite that Derrick had identification in his pocket with his mother’s current address on it. Family called police on Saturday morning, 6/18, inquiring if Derrick was the one involved in the incident, but were given a firm “no.” But, it was him.

We ask the public to focus their outrage on changing the criminal legal system, particularly in regards to the following:

1. Both shooters reviewed the incident footage prior to making statements. An antiquated process such as this allows officers to tailor their accounts to match the video. It is an extremely poor investigative practice. An officer who is involved in a shooting is under investigation, to determine whether the shooting is consistent with agency policy but also for potential criminal charges. Just as police do not show video evidence to suspects or witnesses before taking their statements, officers should be required to first make statements based on memory. This current practice impedes the search for truth and we demand change.

2. Clackamas County Sheriffs Office and Oregon State Police are the ONLY two agencies in the State of Oregon (out of 51) called out for racial disparities in their stop data by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. Is it mere coincidence that the shooters are from these agencies? We demand additional oversight and accountability when alarming data and failure of key metrics in stop data have been concluded.

3. Lethal force and pursuit policies are written to protect officers at all costs. This is unacceptable.

4. Our family had not been allowed to view footage of the incident prior to grand jury proceedings. Once again, policy insists on wide, subjective discretion with releasing footage in Oregon. We demand handling of officer worn body camera and dash camera footage in lethal force incidents is standardized in Oregon and families are allowed to view footage timely (within one week of the incident).
Although we will not be getting the accountability we were seeking this fight is not over.

We must DEMAND change.....
We must take it to the streets......
We must SHUT it down.......

The family is being represented by J. Ashlee Albies of Albies, Stark & Guerriero.

Please donate to the Justice for Derrick Clark gofundme if you are able, so his family can have the resources to continue this fight: https://www.gofundme.com/f/justice-for-derrick-clark?member=23588523&utm_campaign=p_cp%20share-sheet&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer&utm_term=undefined&fbclid=IwAR2mi0yhtsrivVZZqbpIgIiKbfFhrZBtGpjQHwgnd33qub_eY40yzvR750Y