A Portland politician pushing to defund the police, claiming that most calls are not real crimes, recently called 911 over an argument with a Lyft driver who refused to close his window.
City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty — who also oversees Portland’s emergency dispatch system — has repeatedly campaigned to cut police budgets and shift money elsewhere, arguing that the force is inundated with unnecessary calls that don’t involve crimes, according to The Oregonian.
She again called for an $18 million cut last Thursday — four days after she dialed 911 over a ride-share driver who was following Lyft’s coronavirus safety guidelines to keep a window open, the paper said. Hardesty was traveling home from the Ilani Casino near the Portland suburb of Vancouver, WA.
Her 911 calls, first obtained by The Oregonian, show her repeatedly demanding the force send out officers — even though the dispatcher insisted no crime had been committed, the New York Post reports.
“I paid for a ride. He says he canceled it,” Hardesty told the dispatcher, who told her it was the driver’s right to do so. “So I’m going to sit here until he sends me another ride,” she said, with the dispatcher patiently telling her that only she could order one.
When two officers finally arrived in a squad car, the city commissioner got out of the Lyft — and into another ride-share car that pulled up at the same time as the officers, the paper said.
