Justice Is Everyone's Business

Seeking to Restore Integrity and
Public Trust in Our Justice System

Justice will not be served until those who are
unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
—Benjamin Franklin

The Siege on Summer Street (Salem, Oregon 22 January 2019)

2. Battleground Geography

This is the second of a seven-part story.

To help us understand the unfolding of events around the home, a report by Salem police officer Cpl. Adam Waite explained the SWAT method of identifying the sides and levels of a structure.

"In this incident, the basement was labeled ‘basement,’ the first floor was labeled, ‘level one’ and the second floor was labeled ‘level two.’

"The sides of a structure are numbered in a clockwise fashion.  In this incident, the front of the residence faced west and was labeled ‘one side.’  The north side of the residence was labeled, ‘two side’.  The back of the residence faced east …"

Source: Incident Supplement, Cpl. Adam Waite, Pg. 3 of 8, Bates 00142.

 

Neighborhood of the battle, seen from above
This is a satellite view of the neighborhood in Salem Oregon.  The red carrot stake shows the location of 1050 summer St. NE.  Image: Google Maps (cached).  Click to enlarge.

 

Scene of the battle, seen from
							       above
"The sides of a structure are numbered in a clockwise fashion.  In this incident, the front of the residence faced west and was labeled ‘one side.’  The north side of the residence was labeled, ‘two side’.  The back of the residence faced east …" This view of 1050 Summer St. shows the sides of the house, the alley door, front door, the rear deck. and the numbers used to identify the sides in the police reports.  Ketchem was chased by the Lone Ranger from a property somewhere past the lower right of the image on Capital Street, a block over. 

Incident Supplement, Cpl. Adam Waite, Pg. 3 of 8, Bates 00142.)  Image: Google Maps (cached).

 

Naming the house levels
This is the house at 1050 Summer St. as it was in 2018 before the Graves bought it.  Shown here are the front ("west" or "side 1") and the south side ("side 4") as it was in 2019 during the incident.  This is the area of the house with the living room where the worst fire damage occurred.  "In this incident, the basement was labeled ‘basement,’ the first floor was labeled, ‘level one’ and the second floor was labeled ‘level two.’"   (Incident Supplement, Cpl. Adam Waite, Pg. 3 of 8, 00142.)  Image: HD Open House (cached).

 

Kitchen / Alley entrance
The alley entrance of the house ("north" or "side 2") as it was in 2019 during the incident. Mrs. Graves admitted Ketchem through this door as he fled from his armed pursuer.  Image: HD Open House (cached).

 

Kitchen / Alley
			entrance
This is the rear of the house ("east" or "side 3") showing the deck as it was in 2019 during the incident.  Ketchem fled the tear gas, smoke, and flash-bang grenades, and the fire inside the house by crawling out a basement window under the deck.  Knowing he was there, police fired three grenades at him through the latticework, wounding him in the abdomen.  Image: HD Open House (cached).