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Attorneys Greg and Jason Kafoury released surveillance video showing 37 year old Jason Cox
being punched and zapped with a Taser by Portland Police after a traffic stop, in an incident in
which the officers said their force was justified due to Cox's "resistance." However, the video makes
clear Cox was not resisting the cops, and their testimony which was good enough to get them
exonerated for wrongdoing by an Internal Affairs investigation was at best an exaggeration. On
Cox's behalf, the Kafourys are suing the city and Officers Jeffrey Elias (#29338), Robert Bruders
(#45977, puncher) and Sarah Kerwin (#48163, taserer) for $545,000 (Willamette Week,
April 10). On April 17, Council considered appealing a previous ($306,000) jury award to the
Kafourys, arguing police had the right to arrest Gallagher Smith when he wouldn't move from the
sidewalk in front of a nightclub (PPR #58--in which we misidentified Smith's alleged crime
as "jaywalking").
Not long after the scandal of Lt. Todd Wyatt simmered (article), another Portland officer found himself under scrutiny for misconduct involving a fellow female employee. In February, Sgt. Dan Liu was removed from the Bureau's child abuse unit while an investigation was conducted into unspecified allegations. The implication of the Oregonian's brief March 16 piece: another pervo-cop.
Meanwhile, Eddie James Miller, the Multnomah County Deputy who was arrested for sexual
misconduct with an inmate (PPR #56) is now facing a sexual harassment lawsuit by a
former jail employee who says Miller tried to kiss and touch her. She also said that management
destroyed her formal complaints, adding to her anxiety. The County and a private contractor are
also named in the suit (Oregonian, January 29).
In December, an arbitrator overturned Chief Reese's firing of Officer Scott Dunick (#26973) despite the fact that he admitted to smoking marijuana (prohibited by Bureau rules), drove drunk, and gave a prescription pill to another officer for her use. The arbitrator ordered Dunick reinstated because of mistakes made in the Bureau's handling of the case, including losing urinalysis results, having him take a drug test while he was technically on medical leave, and writing that his meds were not prescribed, even though they were (Oregonian, February 12). |
May, 2013
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#59 Table of Contents
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