Tag Archives: Jeff Benkert

Live blog: Ostling vs. Bainbridge Island, May 18

CASE BACKGROUND: Did police violate the civil rights of 43-year-old Douglas Ostling when they responded to his home for his 911 call, shot him as he held an axe and then refused to let anyone go into his room as he bled to death?

That’s what eight jurors in Tacoma’s federal U.S. District Court will have to decide.

Ostling’s estate, as well as his parents, William and Joyce, are suing the city of Bainbridge Island and its police chief, Jon Fehlman, along with Officer Jeff Benkert, the man who fired the shot that caused the fatal injury.

On Monday, we heard opening statements.

On Tuesday, we heard from Officer Benkert.

And today, we’re hearing from Officer David Portrey, who was with Benkert at the time. There may be other witnesses, too.

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Reporter’s Notebook: Bainbridge civil rights trial continues; plea in assisting trooper’s killer?

It continues to be a busy week for crime and justice news in Kitsap County.

Today, the federal civil rights trial Ostling vs. Bainbridge Island continues, with Officer David Portrey and William Ostling taking the witness stand. William’s son, Douglas, was killed in October 2010 in an encounter with police.

The Kitsap Sun won’t be live blogging today’s proceedings but rest assured we will be keeping up on the day’s events. Follow the links for coverage to the case’s opening arguments and Officer Jeff Benkert’s testimony.

Elsewhere, a plea deal was announced Tuesday in the assault cases filed in the wake of the Armin Jahr School shooting that left a third-grader critically wounded in February. Jamie Chaffin, mother of the boy, has agreed to plead guilty to unlawful possession charges in exchange for a little over a year prison sentence and her testimony against her boyfriend and owner of the gun taken to school that day.

Finally, there is a scheduled change-of-plea in Kitsap County Superior Court for one of the people charged with rendering criminal assistance to Joshua Blake, the man authorities believe murdered Washington State Trooper Tony Radulescu during a traffic stop in February.

I’ll keep you posted.

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Live blog: Ostling vs. Bainbridge Island, May 15

CASE BACKGROUND: Today, the plaintiffs will call the two police officers, who responded to the Ostling home on Oct. 26, 2010.

Officers Jeff Benkert and David Portrey arrived at the Ostlings’ Springridge Drive home just before 9 p.m. that night. After a confrontation, Benkert fired his duty weapon, hitting 43-year-old Douglas Ostling in the leg.

Ostling ultimately died from the injury.

In opening statements, the Ostling’s attorney said that the 43-year-old’s rights were violated because police did not get a warrant to go check on him, that the shooting was unnecessary and that authorities denied aid to Douglas Ostling before he bled to death.

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