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Shootings Review Finds Tactical, Policy Issues and Touches on Race

In 2003, the same year Kendra James was shot and killed by a Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officer (PPR #30), the city received its first report looking at officer involved shootings and deaths in custody (PPR #31). That report by the Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC) included a recommendation for officers involved in deadly force incidents to be interviewed immediately after a shooting. The most recent Report, issued in late January 2019 by the Los Angeles-based OIR Group, continues to hammer away at this point nearly sixteen years later. Portland Copwatch (PCW) analyzed the new Report, finding a lot of information the community had not previously known. While OIR is still unwilling to look at PPB actions as products of Racial Profiling, they do take some time in the new Report to note the distrust of police by the African American community. They encourage the Bureau to engage in "honest dialogue, receptivity to feedback, transparency and a demonstrable willingness to evolve and improve." In addition to that informal comment, PCW supports most of the OIR's 40 formal recommendations.

However, the narratives still report suspects' actions as fact, even though they are derived from testimony of involved officers and, sometimes, eyewitnesses-- but rarely those shot or shot at. In six of the nine incidents reviewed, the suspects died. Even so, OIR presents several of the cases in a way that implies officers violated policy and/or training, most significantly in the deaths of Quanice Hayes (PPR #71) and Terrell Johnson (PPR #72). In Hayes' case, the officers gave the 17 year old conflicting commands about crawling on his hands and knees and also having his hands in the air, with one officer reporting Hayes complained he could not do both. Issues also included failing to take cover and not deciding which officer would give commands. PCW's reading is that the confusion caused by this lack of a plan led directly to Officer Andrew Hearst's decision Hayes was defying police orders and then killing him. Hearst claimed he shot Hayes because he feared Hayes could draw and fire a weapon before the police had a chance to respond, based on the "action / reaction" principle which is taught to cops. OIR debunks this claim, but misses the key point: Hearst had his AR-15 pointed at Hayes at the time, meaning he already had the tactical advantage which the "action / reaction" theory uses as its premise. In Johnson's case, Officer Ajir appears to have violated several facets of the foot pursuit policy, but that was never considered in the so-called "review" of the young man's death. Ajir went after Johnson alone, did not radio in his location, and lost sight of the suspect. When he caught up with Johnson, he found he was in close quarters, which led to his backing up, tripping, and then shooting and killing the 24 year old.

In the new Report, following their critique of the District Attorney in 2018, OIR looked at another institutional apologist for police shootings: the State Medical Examiner (ME)'s office. Echoing community concerns, they urge the Bureau to convince the ME not to label officer-involved shooting deaths as "suicides," as was done in the police killing of Michael Johnson (PPR #67).

OIR also has suggestions around the secretive Police Review Board (PRB), focusing on making sure they do thorough analysis, follow up on their recommendations and receive training. OIR says the PRB does not act as the independent check on officer involved shootings that it is supposed to be. They note issues that were either not discussed or not addressed thoroughly, including foot pursuits, prior shootings, and tactical decisions made leading up to shootings. Notably, they do not suggest changes which would stop the police from treating civilian PRB members as uninformed because they are not officers.

The Report includes a table listing all 50 cases OIR has reviewed since taking over for PARC in 2010. 13 of the 50 people subjected to deadly force were African American-- 26% of people shot or shot at in a city with a 6% African American population. 29 of the 50 people "had a history of mental health issues or were experiencing some type of mental health crisis." That is 58% of people subjected to police deadly force. Since late 2012, the US Department of Justice has been overseeing reforms to reduce PPB use of force on people with mental illness. The reforms seem to be leading to the opposite result: in 33 cases reviewed dating from 2004-2012, 55% (18) involved mental health issues, while in the 17 cases since 2013-- post DOJ-- that number is 65% (11).

Besides Terrell Johnson, OIR reported on two other cases in which officers walked backward and tripped, which precipitated their (or their partners') decision to use deadly force: David Ellis (PPR #66) and Nicholas Davis (PPR #63). PPB says their training is to go sideways instead of backward, which these officers failed to do, leading to injury and death of civilians. PCW raised this issue following OIR's 2016 report.

PCW has also repeatedly pointed out when officers involved in reviewed shootings had previously been involved in other incidents. OIR has been taking note of this trend. Just in this report, they note, Officer Russ Corno, who was involved in two shootings they reviewed three years ago, was involved in the death of Michael Johnson, and Hearst was involved in the shooting of Merle Hatch in 2013.

In their 2016 Report, OIR told the Bureau to stop using the term "suicide by cop" as it suggests there was a pre-determined outcome driven by the suspect. In the new Report, OIR wisely cautions the Bureau against using the phrase "the officer had no other option," which similarly implies officers were unable to make a choice about using deadly force.

OIR's Report was finished early enough that the Chief issued a response dated January 17, but it was not released to the public until February 1. The Mayor begrudgingly allowed Quanice Hayes' grandmother Donna Hayes, the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform and Portland Copwatch to testify at City Council on February 6. Because the Bureau had already set some of the suggested reforms in motion, there was no meaningful way for the community to give input on OIR's recommendations.

Given the apparent violations revealed in this report, the City needs to allow a civilian body to review deadly force cases at the time they happen, which likely would lead to more officers being found out of policy and perhaps even disciplined.

The OIR report can be found at https://www.portlandoregon.gov/ipr/article/711306.

PCW"s analysis is at http://portlandcopwatch.org/shootings_analysis_0219.html.

May, 2019
Also in PPR #77

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

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