Police Chief Mike Reese Apologizes for Issuing False Info About Occupy Portland's Impact on a Rape Case

REESE

Police Chief Mike Reese, who's getting close to a bid for mayor, apologized this weekend for claiming that his officers are so busy dealing with Occupy Portland protesters that they had to leave a rape victim sitting unassisted for three hours.---

It turned out not to be true, and police officials had to walk back Reese's comments Friday. Reese says now that the "reality was more complex." The rape case had come to the bureau's attention a week earlier, and  officers were handling other calls around the city unrelated to the Occupy protests. Reese's misleading claim set off howls on Twitter and other online exchanges.

"It was not my intention to mislead people, especially around an incident as serious and sensitive as a reported sexual assault," Reese said in his statement. "I spoke about the incident without knowing all of the details and made assumptions that were not correct. I apologize; I should have gathered all of the information before discussing it publicly."



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