Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Update on Gregory Rold Case

Man, it's been a lot of work piecing together what happened in the case of Gregory Rold, but it's an endeavor worth taking on. The Salem Statesman Journal has been helpful. Here's an update with some new information from their website...

Several residents of the Carriage Apartments criticized police Tuesday for using what they described as excessive force.

"He was a creep, but does that mean you get killed like a dog? They should have hogtied him, detained him and taken him away," Carita Mendez said.

Mendez lives in a first-floor unit at the Carriage Apartments, directly below the unit where Rold fought with police as his mother looked on. Neighbors said she screamed out the window, pleading for help and saying that police were killing her son.

Mendez said the violence left many residents traumatized.

"We've been crying, us girls have," she said. "It's too much for us. It's sad."

Liz Patterson, co-manager of the complex, described the altercation between Rold and police officers as a tragedy.

"It's a tragedy for the family. It's a tragedy for the police department. It's a tragedy for everybody involved," she said Tuesday.

Patterson said that Rold's mother, Felisa Rold, and his brother, Darius Ludwig, had been tenants at the Carriage Apartments since September. The family came to the United States from the Marshall Islands, she said.

Gregory Rold had served jail time for crimes ranging from assault to giving alcohol to juveniles, according to court records.

In 2004, he spent a week in jail when he was convicted of assaulting a public safety officer. In 2005, Rold was convicted of fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and sentenced to five days in jail.

Rold was convicted in 2006 on a trespassing charge. He served 25 days in jail. Rold's most recent conviction was in October 2008, when he was convicted of furnishing liquor to a minor.

About two weeks ago, he was banned from the apartments.

"The action was taken because of inappropriate behavior and remarks to other tenants," Patterson said.
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The fact that his family moved here from the Marshall Islands may explain part of the problem. Beside the cultural differences, there may have been language differences as well. The population of the Marshalls is largely Micronesian. Over 50% of the people are Protestants and there other Christian groups. Marshallese, a Malayo-Polynesian tongue, and English are the official languages; Japanese is also spoken. Of course this fails to explain why 10 of the 20 Taser related deaths so far this year in the US have been black men..., nor does it answer the question of whether or not he had a developmental disability, which would further complicate things.

I asked the Chairwoman of the Salem Human Rights Commission if she felt the Salem police have had satisfatory training on dealing with people who have developmental disabilities yesterday, but she didn't answer that question.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

there were more cops there then they said..and a dog too! what has the media have to really say about gregorys death?? most people there didnt even like the man..but one thing they dont know about that man is that..hes mental, and takes medicines..people hate the fact that he came back to the apartments they decided to call the law enforcement to come arrest him..

but was gregory really a bad man?? he was only visiting hes mother for the holiday...

to the salem police department i would pray for your souls...you all need jesus!!

soson..

David McDonald said...

I recieved an "anonymous" comment on this post today, but my policy is that if you're going to comment, you must attach a name to what you write.

Brent Matthews said...

Evaristo Antonio Tenorio

Anonymous said...

goddd , that was myy unclee okayy ?? he was mentall & he needed helpp all right ! he was having a hard time with EVERYTHING ! so who else wouldd be a better person to go to than his own mother ?! and there were more police over there than three only ?! there were thirteen , and they ALL took a part on beating him ! yes , my uncle was sick ! he didn't know any better because we couldn't afford the medication he needed ! and we aren't marshallese ! we're chuukese ! from the island of CHUUK ! who ever told you we were from the marshall islands only said that so they can have some fame time to themselves ! and to those girls that supposedly "cried" because of what happened to my uncle Gregory ? they need to stop acting like they "care" or are "scared" because you all didn't care ! when we asked for help - you didn't care ! when we screamed for help - you ALL didn't care ! so do us a favor and stop your acting ! our family doesn't need it - especially from those who HATED my uncle , you all knew what was wrong with him & just waited for him to do something bad so that you can call the cops ! well i hope your happy now ! aint nobody gonna bother yall anymore ! thankss for your 'help' ! and to those cops - i hope you know how much of US cried for my uncle Gregory - and you all should feel the guilt ! you should feel HIS blood in your hands because you guys are the ones who killed him !

David McDonald said...

Just came across this last comment from last month. Not such an all star blogger these days...

I'm wondering why this person would include me in her obvious anger with the system. I TRIED to keep this story alive, hoping it would get the attention it deserved. I can understand how this person would feel that Gregory's life was an afterthought... but not by me!

Anonymous said...

gregory did not deserve what happened to him he was a nice person who ment no harm to anyone its messed up because liz the manager of the complex knew he had a diability