Sometimes the best thing a person can do in regard to a job is quit it. Yes, I said 'quit,' not 'get.' If someone is not suitable for a position, he should recognize he isn't. If his unfitness might cause harm to other people, he should act on that knowledge as soon as possible. A Portland cop implicated in the shooting of an unarmed motorist has done just that. He says the shooting, and community anger at him, did not influence his decision. The Oregonian reported his resignation yesterday.

Jason Sery, the Portland police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man five months ago in North Portland, has resigned from the Police Bureau, saying his decision has nothing to do with a pending internal investigation into the shooting.

Sery, 29, the focus of angry protests and an unusual public inquest into the March 28 shooting of James Jahar Perez, submitted a letter dated Monday to Chief Derrick Foxworth. He said he planned to become a minister and a teacher at his Beaverton church.

"I want to stress that my resignation has nothing to do with the events of this year," Sery wrote. "Rather, I am resigning because I feel that I cannot pass up the opportunity to grow in my faith and take part in this ministry."

Sery was the second white police officer to shoot a black motorist in Portland, Oregon, in a matter of months. The situation was described at Mac-a-ro-nies.

In Portland, we recently had the second shooting of an unarmed African-American in just 10 months. For the record, the black population of Oregon is about two percent. Less than 4,000 black men between 15 and 29 reside in the region. (And, nearly all African-Americans in Oregon live in Portland, Salem or Eugene.) Yet, despite the tiny population of African-Americans, police stops and arrests of persons of color are extremely common. There are good grounds for attacking racial profiling here.

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