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City Drops Claim That Victim's Mother Fortunately, after a few years that seemed more Wild West than appropriate in a city whose police are under investigation for using too much force, there have been no Portland officer-involved shootings since the death of Koben Henriksen on December 8 (PPR #79). In the interim, records revealed Henriksen, who was shot and killed 13 seconds after police arrived to confront him, was shot by less lethal and lethal rounds at the same time. In the lawsuit seeking justice for Quanice Hayes, the teen killed by police in February 2017 (PPR #71), the City withdrew its legal strategy to blame Hayes' mother for being negligent, and a judge threw out most of their argument blaming Hayes himself. Regarding the death of Lane Martin, who was in a mental health crisis when police killed him in July 2019 (PPR #78), police released video of Martin showing officers did not prove he posed a threat when he was killed. The December Police Review Board (PRB) report had the biggest reveal: Officer Alfonso Valadez resigned before he could be fired for lying about whether he chased Christopher Cannard down a freeway off-ramp, leading to Cannard's death in a head-on crash in 2018 (PPR #75). The PRB also reviewed six other deadly force cases, but none led to discipline. In January, Portland Copwatch (PCW) joined other groups remembering Aaron Campbell 10 years after he was killed by a police sniper (PPR #50). Quanice Hayes: City Backs Down Voluntarily and By Court Order on Victim-Blaming Strategy
On February 26, lawyers for Quanice Hayes' family asked US Magistrate John Acosta to disallow
the city's arguments about Venus Hayes being unable to "control" her son and that Hayes should
Koben Henriksen: Officers Fired Less Lethal and Lethal Rounds Simultaneously Our last issue briefly covered the shooting of Koben Henriksen by Officer Justin Raphael. In the weeks following the shooting, the City's efforts to blame the County's mental health system were rebuffed by County leaders who wrote "anyone experiencing a mental health crisis should not have to face a violent death at the hands of law enforcement" (Portland Tribune, December 19). The police knew Henriksen from an encounter just days earlier when he also had been wandering around with knives in his hands, but were able to talk him down. The Bureau published police reports shortly after the conclusion of the Grand Jury, which revealed Officer Dan Leonard (#50211) fired a 40mm "sponge round" at the same time Raphael fired three rounds from an AR- 15 rifle (Oregonian, February 1). This flies in the face of the reforms the PPB is supposed to have implemented due to the agreement with the US Department of Justice to use less force, especially when someone appears to be in mental health crisis. Policy suggests officers fire the "less lethal" weapon and see whether it was effective before trying other force options. Leonard told the grand jury he was delayed in using the launcher because the rules require him to carry it unloaded (OPB, February 24). Lane Martin: What We Learned From the Videos Over six months after the incident, the PPB released videos of Lane Martin in the time before officers killed him, showing him walking away from police holding a hatchet, being hit by "less lethal" rounds in the legs (when he dropped the hatchet), and part of the confrontation where Officer Gary Doran thought Martin was reaching for a knife (Oregonian, February 8). The police claim "a black folding knife attached to his keys was found under [his] body after he was shot," but that is not shown in the video. The police were also sure to note that Martin had meth in his system, though as usual the officers involved were not drug tested. Police Review Board Report: Seven Deadly Force Incidents, One Instance of Discipline-- But Not For Death The Police Review Board is primarily made up of Bureau personnel and meets behind closed doors. In use of force cases, one member of a civilian volunteer pool and one member of the Citizen Review Committee are allowed to vote, along with a member of the "Independent" Police Review and four officers of various ranks. The December 2019 and March 2020 PRB Reports revealed the following. a) In the April 2018 incident where Officer Valadez chased Christopher Cannard, the officer was violating several policies, notably the Vehicle Pursuit and Satisfactory Performance Directives. He did not balance the risk to the community with the decision to chase a hit and run suspect. He was facing termination-- the only possible discipline for violating the Truthfulness policy-- because he was "evasive and deceptive" about whether he even engaged in a car chase at all in an effort to avoid responsibility. b) The Board did not find any issue with Officer Consider Vosu moving the knife which he claims Andre Gladen took from his vest, then putting it back before officers came to investigate his killing Gladen in January 2019 (PPR #77). They wrote it off as Vosu being a "two year officer not trained in how to process a crime scene." Also, Vosu initially used a Taser against Gladen, which was also found in policy. The Board recommended a debriefing for Vosu about asking for cover officers, but it is not clear whether this happened. They also recommended training on guidelines for officers' knives intended to be used as weapons, and a policy change around securing weapons used in a deadly force incident. c) Officer Kameron Fender was praised for shooting and wounding Jason Hansen, a car theft suspect who ran away from police in October 2018 (PPR #76). The Board said they were "pleased" that Fender attended the hearing and had recovered from his injuries, which are nowhere noted being the result of the Clackamas Deputy's dog biting Fender, who himself is a PPB K-9 officer. d) The December 7, 2018 shooting of Ryan Beisley (also PPR #76) is confusing as it involved fourteen officers, all listed with numbers and not names because PRB Reports are redacted. The Report lists the perspectives of Officers Lucas Brostean, Dustin Lauitzon, John Sapper, and John Shadron, who all used deadly force, with several describing Beisley as coming out of a coffee shop "with a purpose." One officer said he fired because he heard gunfire, which sounds as if officers were engaging in "contagious fire" based on law enforcement gunshots, since the suspect did not use a gun. There are other uses of force listed by other officers following Beisley being wounded, with six officers getting on top of the man to take him into custody. e) The PRB did not seem to be disturbed that at the time Officer Kelly VanBlokland shot Samuel Rice in the head on October 10, 2018, Rice was not posing an immediate threat of death or harm to anyone (also PPR #76). The report says VanBlokland, knowing Rice had taken a female companion into his hotel room against her will, felt this was his "last chance to rescue the victim [sic] by disarming the suspect." Rice was in the bathroom alone. Shooting a person when there is no immediate threat is a violation of law and policy. f) PCW briefly reported in PPR #76 that Officer Larry Wingfield used a choke hold on Jonathan Harris on August 31, 2018. Apparently, Wingfield noticed a gun while he and four other officers were trying to arrest Harris on a warrant, then got into a fight with him. Wingfield knew the public was present and worried about the firearm, so he then "wrapped his arm around [Harris'] neck to limit [his] breathing and make him uncomfortable." The Board debated whether Wingfield's hold was the banned "carotid hold" but gave up and agreed deadly force was justified "regardless" to get Harris into custody. Nowhere is it mentioned that Wingfield was involved in the shooting death of Thomas Higginbotham in 2011 and the shooting of Jonah Potter in 2012. g) The March PRB report revealed that a Sergeant entered the house where Jeb Brock was holding a woman at knifepoint, thus turning himself into a witness officer rather than a supervisor. While this behavior has been called out numerous times by the OIR Group, the PRB found no problem. They also seemed ok with Officer Michael Gonzalez trying to de-escalate the situation only after Officer Aaron Rizzo fired less lethal rounds, which hit both Brock and the woman. Gonzalez ended up shooting and killing Brock (PPR #78). No violations were found. For more about the Police Review Board report, see article in this issue.
On January 25, the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform organized an event called "Remembering Aaron Campbell: Stop the Violence." The purpose was to connect police violence to other kinds of violence in our society while also highlighting it has been a full decade since the controversial police shooting by Officer Ron Frashour. About 75 people attended. Marva Davis, mother of Aaron Campbell, spoke passionately about the need to change the way police conduct themselves, and to go beyond words into action. There were also speakers encouraging the end of gun violence, domestic violence, violence against immigrants, and war violence-- the latter being a member of Portland Copwatch connecting the use of state-sponsored violence by police and the military.
A clip of Marva Davis' talk can be seen at <youtu.be/3oGN2vQAMT0>.
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May, 2020
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#80 Table of Contents
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have known his alleged criminal
actions would lead to police shooting him (Oregonian,
February 28). Several City Council candidates wrote a letter asking that the City drop this line of
argument (Portland Mercury blog, February 27). The City Attorney filed paperwork with
the court to do so a few days later ( Mercury Blog, March 5). Acosta then ruled if the City's
contention about Quanice Hayes
were true, then if by "stealing property and failing to get
enough sleep risked getting shot, then anyone who commits theft or burglary should reasonably
expect not to be arrested, but to be shot. That is not the law" ( Mercury Blog, March
11). He did leave in place some possibility that Hayes could be at fault during the confrontation,
but mostly eviscerated the City's cynical stance.
Aaron Campbell's Mother Featured Speaker at
10 Years Later Memorial