Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Oregon Police Officer Asked to Leave Vegan Coffee Shop

The Red & Black Cafe is no place for a man in blue.

Police Officer James Crooker was asked to leave the vegan coffee shop in Portland, Ore., last month, a discriminatory move but not altogether uncommon at the java joint, a detective told FoxNews.com.

Crooker, 36, a 2-year veteran of the force, entered the Red & Black Caf� on May 18 and bought a cup of coffee before a customer approached him and said she appreciated his efforts.

That's when John Langley, one of the co-owners of the collectively managed shop, approached the cop and asked him to leave.

Crooker left immediately. It was the first time something like this has happened to him in his nine-year law enforcement career, he told The Oregonian newspaper.

"The places that I've been kicked out of before have been places like the methadone clinic," he said. "You're there to protect them, but on the other hand they don't know what that involves. Being gracious is part of it."

Detective Mary Wheat, a spokeswoman for the Portland Police Department, characterized the incident as a "fluke" but noted the city's ongoing tension between the police and some members of the community.

"This is Portland," Wheat told FoxNews.com. "We have been dealing with that for years and years and years. It's a very liberal city. We have anarchists here and we deal with them on a regular basis."

The coffee shop attracts homeless individuals and activists, the newspaper reported, and Wheat said it is known to be "not friendly" to officers who work the area.

"Most officers would know that this is not a coffee shop that's friendly to police," she said. "It's obviously discrimination to police. He works that area and he can't go in for a cup of coffee -- it's not fair."

The customer who approached Crooker, Cornelia Seigneur, is a freelancer for The Oregonian who blogged about the incident on her website.

"As I spoke with the caf� owner, I really never got a direct answer as to why he personally felt unsafe with a police officer in his establishment," Seigneur wrote. "Bottom line, I think especially of the policeman I met at the red and black, Officer James Crooker, a human being who should be treated with respect and honor, like all human beings."

Neither Crooker nor Langley could be reached for comment on Friday. An employee who answered the phone at the Red and Black caf� declined to discuss the incident.

"I've been taking calls about this all day and I'm kind of tired of talking about it," the employee said. "I have a regular job."

I was unaware, up until this moment, that coffee was actually meat.


FWIW, this story reminds me of a client who unfailingly reminds us she's a vegan as she's pulling her bank card out of her alligator skin purse.....

A vegan coffee shop that reserves the right to refuse service to anyone.

That's pretty rich.

- Tom

Anarchists are liberals? That's a new one on me.

Hmmmm ok, lets see how this works out, a public place not wanting the support of police officers around their shop. Kind of makes it open season for thieves and robberies, who they gonna call when that happens?????

If the place is ever robbed and calls the cops, wonder if they'll respond quickly or stop for coffee somewhere along the way

Know what I'd do...

Ain't no vegans in TX...we never got into that StarTrek stuff.

Ghostbusters?

Preschooler D was noticeably evil � already well on his way to a life sentence or the gas chamber. Born to a single mother who was also born to a single mother, he was heir to "family" disregard for any value other than the extreme selfishness of at least two earlier generations. (Think "spoiled to the nth.")

While his mother worked, his grandmother and her sister � neither of whom could swim � watched him play around in the shallow end of a public pool. Predictably, he soon got into the deep end of the pool and was drowning. Unfortunately, some guy pulled him out.

"There he was, drowning right before our eyes!" his grandmother wailed. "What were we to do?"

"I know what I'd do," I muttered. "I'd write for help."

My brother laughed so hard that he nearly messed his pants. He knew D and agreed with my assessment of the budding criminal.

Yeah..but I'll bet technically, she didn't eat the alligator.....

Dat makes everything, including killing it...OK....


Ingwe

Been all over the news and radio the last couple days. Have to go on a business trip tomorrow. After I get back I'm thinking of seeing if I can organize a 'non-violent civil disobedience' thing.

Get a bunch of my buddies and similar type persons. Have them dress in patriotic wear, NRA caps, etc... Go into the joint and take all the available seats and start reading National Review, The National Review, etc., and just sit there.

When they ask us to leave, tell them politely that we will if the police ask us too. Make sure that the local media is invited and that we have a few camcorders running.

Wadda ya think?

Your a daisy if ya' do .

GTC

Just promise to post the videos on here....

Ken, you crack me up. Good to see your sense of humor is well intact. Don't forget to bring it next week. I read your tale not looking to see who wrote it until the end when, like your brother, nearly busted a gut (not the pants thing).

David

"I'd write for help."
Even if that had been back in the Pony Express days, Ken's thoughts probably would have still been the same. No use in gettin' in a big toot over nothing.

Hey, Paladin, when you coming back home?

Not a surprise here in Portland, way to many wack jobs like this Cafe owner around.

Wednesday, and none too soon. Hope to get to Billings early, but unlikely as usual.

Well that is why I call it Potland... leaving out the R in Portland is more accurate description of the town and too many of its inhabitants..( don't get me wrong, there are some great folks up there too..but Portland Salem and Eugene liberals are what screw up an otherwise wonderful state...)

personally I hope you boys up in Potland can embarrass the crap out of this business and force them to close...

it is an embarrassment to not only Portland but to the entire state of Oregon to boot..

About once a week would be good... . After all...restaurants are open to the public, aren't they?

If you can get about 20 people to do it, and some of them are off-duty...no one is going to stop you... .

Dennis