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Portland Police Shoot Three People in 20 Days;
Meanwhile, new information came in on the PSU Police shooting of Jason Washington (PPR #75), and the shootings of Chase Peeples (PPR #73), Steven Liffel (PPR #70), Quanice Hayes (PPR #71), Terrell Johnson and Michael Grubbe (PPR #72). Kimmons: Shot in the Back While Running from Police A seminal national case is that of Tennessee v. Garner (1985) in which a suspect who was fleeing police was found not to be posing an imminent danger to anyone, thus the officers' use of force was unconstitutional. On September 30, police observed Pat Kimmons firing a gun at two other civilians, both of whom were wounded (Portland Tribune, October 2). Video shows Kimmons at first running toward police but then taking an abrupt turn and running away. Officers Garry Britt (#49588) and Jeffrey Livingston (#57119) fired multiple times, hitting Kimmons with nine bullets. The Medical Examiner's report shows at least four of the shots hit him in the back. Britt was involved in the shooting of Joshua Baker six years earlier (PPR #58) and contacted John Elifritz on the day he was killed in April (PPR #74). This is the second shooting of an African American man since Chief Outlaw took office in October 2017. The family and community members expressed outrage at Kimmons' death, holding multiple vigils and protests (p. 10). In an unusual moment, Officer Jason Hubert spoke at a community meeting discussing Kimmons' death and expressed his sadness. He had spoken to the young man whom he considered to be "a friend" three times the week before he died (Oregonlive, October 5). Samuel Rice: Sniper Shot Echoes Previous Incidents
Sam Rice was confronted by police at the Del Rancho Motel in SE Portland on October 10 as he
was reported to have a knife and was not letting a woman (identified as his girlfriend) leave the
motel room. Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) Officer Kelly VanBlokland (#26660)
acted as a sniper to kill Rice with a single bullet to the head, even though the negotiating team had
barely gotten to the scene. This incident echoes the death of Byron Hammick, who was shot in a
hotel room while holding a child in 2002 (PPR #26), and Nathan Thomas, a 12 year old who
was killed along with the man who had him at knifepoint in 1992 (PPR #5). The Hansen Wounded by Police as PPB Officer Bitten by K-9 On October 19, Jason Hansen was shot twice by Portland Police Officer Kameron Fender (#50793), and Clackamas County Sheriff's Deputy Jon Campbell (#38851). He ran from a reportedly stolen car after a chase that began around SE Portland in Clackamas County. Hansen allegedly shot at police, who were not hit. Both agencies released police dogs, and the Clackamas dog bit Officer Fender. Though the wound was superficial enough that Fender was immediately released from the hospital, he claimed the injury made it impossible to be interviewed within 48 hours as required by current policy ( PPR #72). Hansen was not identified until November 1, and was only released from the hospital into police custody on November 9 (Oregonian, November 11). Hansen's was at least the 31st shooting by Oregon law enforcement in 2018, breaking the previous post-2010 record of 30 in 2013.
Details are still slim about what led to the death of Richard Barry, but PPB Officers James DeAnda (#57476) and Jared Abby (#56909) came to the aid of PSU Campus Police Officer David Troppe, and Public Safety Officers Michael Anderson, Danae Murphy and Nichola Higbee as they were called to respond to complaints Barry was running around in the streets of SW Portland yelling (Oregonlive, November 23). After being restrained by the PPB, Barry was sent to the hospital, where he died. On December 10, the Medical Examiner declared he died by "accident" due to drugs, and that the police had nothing to do with the death. On December 7, Portland officers Lucas Brostean (#56548), Dustin Lauitzon (#54740), John Sapper (#50821), and John Shadron (#37126) shot and wounded Ryan Beisley, who allegedly jumped behind the counter at the Hollywood Fred Meyer Starbucks. The employees called in the cops after locking themselves in a back room. The police say Beisley pointed a replica gun and the officers opened fire. There's no way they knew at the time Beisley had a warrant out for escaping from a halfway house, yet the media emphasized he was a "fugitive." Two-Time Shooter Cop Chokes Man In 1985, officers put Lloyd "Tony" Stevenson, an African American security guard they mistook for a criminal, into a "sleeper" choke hold and killed him. The incident caused public outcry and police banned the choke hold. Current PPB policy define choke holds as deadly force, but does not ban them. It is unclear if the holds are taught in training, and thus whether Officer Larry Wingfield (#26849) will be found out of policy for trying to choke Jonathan Harris, 31, when he supposedly resisted officers trying to take him into custody on a warrant on August 31. Wingfield was involved in the shootings of Thomas Higginbotham in 2011 ( PPR #53) and Jonah Potter in 2012 ( PPR #56). Anger management, anyone? The Independent Police Review indicates the case is being investigated as a deadly force incident. Updates on Seven Portland-Area Shootings --An autopsy report showed that Jason Washington, an African American man who was trying to break up a fight, was hit by nine of 17 bullets fired by the PSU officers who killed him on June 29. Three bullets hit him in the back. A grand jury cleared Officers Shawn McKenzie and James Dewey of criminal wrongdoing, while PSU's several internal investigations continue (Skanner, September 19). It is unlikely McKenzie can be held accountable as he left PSU for another agency in October. Student protests continued even as PSU opened its board meeting to public comment, knowing many people want PSU police to disarm. --Chase Peeples, a bank robbery suspect who was shot by the PPB in October 2017, was sentenced to five years in prison. Unlike many survivors of police violence, Peeples reportedly said the permanent injuries inflicted by Officer Ryan Reagan were a wake-up call and he was not interested in suing (Oregonlive, October 30). --The September Police Review Board (PRB) Report (p. 9) reveals the secretive body found four shootings in policy. There was no discussion of the possible racial profiling of Johnson, a mixed- race young man who allegedly had a knife at a transit station in May 2017, or Hayes, the young black man who was apparently not armed when he was shot in the head and chest by a police rifle three months earlier. The PRB did not ask where stray bullets went in the shooting death of Steven Liffel at an apartment complex in December 2016, or when officers shot at Michael Grubbe multiple times in a residential neighborhood and damaged two homes and a boat. The main recommendation from that case was for officers to put better sights on their shotguns. --The Board declared "reasonable" Officer Andrew Hearst's belief Hayes reaching for his waist meant he was going for a gun-- although he was on his knees at officers' direction and likely was trying to keep his pants up. A com-mander was criticized for taking part in the custody team rather than supervising. --The Report says officer Samson Ajir had a "lawful reason" to pursue Johnson but did not criticize engaging in a foot chase with an armed (with a knife) suspect. There was no reported review of commanders' actions in this case, perhaps because Transit Police include officers who are not PPB members.
Dog Shot at Scene of Fire An October 22 Oregonlive article says police shot a pit bull who chased firefighters trying to extinguish a fire in SE Portland. The O says the dog's aggression "prompted one officer to draw his weapon and fatally shoot the dog." The officer was not identified.
The City refuted the John Elifritz family lawsuit's claim of wrongful death by blaming Elifritz for being shot by 15 police bullets (Oregonian, October 24). |
January, 2019
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#76 Table of Contents
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From September 30 to October 19, Portland Police shot at three suspects, killing two. On
December 7, they shot and wounded a fourth man. On November 22, they came to assist Portland
State University (PSU) Police "restrain" a houseless man, who died after the confrontation. For a
Bureau whose average annual deadly force incidents have gone down from about seven in the
1990s to about four today, this many incidents is alarming. The three shootings in 20 days is the
largest cluster since the five shootings in 41 days in late 2010-2011 (
two victims were Patrick Kimmons, 27, who was African American,
and Samuel Rice, 30, who was in a mental health crisis. The third, Jason Hansen, 29, lived after
being shot by both a PPB officer and Clackamas Deputy. The man who died in custody was
Richard Barry, 52. Ryan Beisley, 34, was allegedly wanted on a federal "escape" warrant when he
was wounded in December. Also, in late August, a two-time shooter cop applied a choke hold to a
suspect who lived, despite a previous ban on such a maneuver. The PPB's shootings led to a record
high across the state of Oregon in 2018 (
Oregonian (October 11) said the Bureau's
Behavioral Heath Unit previously contacted Rice, including taking him in for mental health
treatment. The US Department of Justice came to town to force the PPB to use less violence when
interacting with people in mental health crisis, so it is not clear why Rice ended up dead--unless
SERT's policies haven't changed.
Houseless Man Killed on Thanksgiving, "Fugitive" Hit by PPB
Gunfire in Starbucks