A convicted murderer who executed a teenage girl has been voted onto the police review board of a woke Oregon city — because of the unique “perspective” he brings.
Kyle Hedquist, 47, was reappointed by the City Council in Salem, Ore., to serve on the board that reviews police complaints by a five-to-four vote, despite serving 27 years in prison for murder, the Statesman Journal reported.
The Oregon native was sentenced to life behind bars without parole in 1994 for the killing of 19-year-old Nikki Thrasher, after he led the victim down a remote road and shot her in the back of the head to prevent her from telling people about a recent burglary spree.
But in 2022, he was released, after Oregon’s then-governor, Kate Brown, a Democrat, argued Hedquist “shouldn’t be locked up for life” due to the fact he was 17 when he carried out his brutal crime.
Defending his reappointment to the board — whose members train with police and take part in ride-alongs — a Salem councillor praised Hedquist for the “perspective” he brings.
Hedquist “brings a perspective that most of us don’t have,” Ward 6 City Councilor Mai Vang said in a video shared on Facebook following the Dec. 8 vote.
“As someone who’s been through the criminal justice system, he understands community safety from a different angle. He’s one voice among nine — he’s not running the show, but his experience matters,” she added.
She added that since Hedquist is ineligible for ride-alongs due to his felony conviction, the city will waive the rule that applies to other board members.
“Kyle’s recent work shows he’s genuine about turning his life around and using his experience to help others. And honestly? If any of us needed a second chance, we’d want the same consideration,” Vang said.
Backlash to Hedquist’s reappointment has been swift in the Democrat-led city, with the Salem Police Employees’ Union and other council members among those condemning the move.
“To think that we’re providing education on kind of how we do what we do to someone with that criminal history, it just doesn’t seem too smart,” the union’s president Scotty Nowning told KATU2.
Salem Professional Fire Fighters Local 314 also put out a statement blasting Hedquist’s reappointment.
“As police and fire professionals in the Salem community, we are asking Salem residents to stand with us,” the Facebook statement read in part.
Hedquist expressed his gratitude for the council’s decision during the meeting at the Salem Public Library, which he attended with his wife.
“I felt like the things that some of the councilors said were just as important or more important than reappointing me,” he said, according to the Statesman Journal.
Hedquist’s 2022 release came as a sickening blow to Nikki’s mother, Holly Thrasher.
“I am upset. I wasn’t even told,” she said in an interview with KOIN 6 at the time.
“He took the life of my daughter in cold blood. It was a cold-blooded murder. He planned it,” she said.
The decision to release a convicted killer was also branded “shocking and irresponsible” by local police officers at the time.
