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PIIAC Not Quire Ready to Graze Green Pastures Portland's old "review board," the Police Internal Investigations Auditing Committee (PIIAC), officially retired in June; however, they had a backlog of appeals. Since our last issue, City Council heard three of those appeals in its role as PIIAC, under the defunct system's rules and regulations. Council as PIIAC acts as a final appeals body for cases first appealed to the PIIAC Citizen Advisors. The first appeal (#00-26) involved a child visitation dispute in which the appellant alleged that an officer lied and refused to correct a police report. During the August Council hearing, the appellant tried to support her claim. The Mayor cut off this attempt, stating it was irrelevant to the appeal. Captain Schenck, the new Internal Affairs Division (IAD) Commander, introduced extraneous information by stating that the appellant had filed previous complaints against the police. This appeared to be an attempt to discredit her. It was interesting that the Mayor did not find the Captain's comments irrelevant. Not surprisingly, the Council unanimously agreed with the PIIAC Citizen Advisors' earlier judgment, affirming IAD's decision to decline full investigation. The second appeal (#00-30) heard by City Council focused on a case of excessive use of force. The appellant witnessed the arrest of a homeless man in 1999. The appellant alleged that two officers used excessive force by grabbing the victim from behind, choking him, throwing him to the ground, and pounding his head into the pavement (see PPR #24). He also alleged that the officers used discourteous behavior by swearing at the gathered crowd, and that one officer used unprofessional conduct by rubbing food on the victim's head. The only accusation sustained by IAD was the food- rubbing allegation, since the officer admitted to that behavior. During the September Council hearing, Commissioner Hales found the appellant credible and moved to sustain the swearing allegation originally considered "Unfounded" by police officials. His motion failed. However, some of the other Commissioners expressed concern that the entire incident started when the homeless man threw a candy wrap-per on the ground, and that the IAD did not seek witnesses during its investigation. Hales stated he did not want the use of force allegations sustained since pictures taken by police at the time of arrest did not show any visible injuries. As other IAD representatives have done, Captain Schenck maintained that the victim was resisting arrest, making the use of force necessary, but he explained that the force can appear to be excessive because it is distressing for a layperson to watch. In the end, Council upheld the original findings by a vote of 3-1 (Commissioner Saltzman was absent), though a motion to find "Insufficient Evidence" probably would have won a majority vote. (We can't stress enough how many times the findings on these cases should be "Insufficient Evidence" instead of "Exonerated" or "Unfounded.") Council heard the third appeal (#00-17) on October 31. Council had postponed hearing this case until the co-appellant, Craig Rosebraugh, resolved a lawsuit against the City concerning the incident. The City settled the suit for over $45,000. The case involved two actions that happened shortly after a non-violent demonstration downtown in 1999 (see PPR #19). First, Lt. Scott Winegar (#12791), who rushed in to take Rosebraugh down with an "arm bar hold," broke Craig's arm, causing permanent damage. A video of the incident clearly shows Rosebraugh and appellant Elaine Close quietly talking to mounted police prior to the attack. In the video, Mounted Patrol leader Sgt. Dave Pool (#8424) calls Craig by name, warning: "Don't get shitty with me--don't make yourself a martyr." At this point, actions by the Mounted Patrol result in confusion, Craig's arm is broken, and he is put in cuffs. Close, trying to fol-low as police dragged Craig by his broken arm, reached the edge of the sidewalk where an officer (identified as "Officer C") put her hands on Close's shoulders and shoved her into the street. IAD Lt. Bechard and his sidekick Sgt. Bottcher claimed that Craig's arrest was necessary because he pulled away from Sgt. Pool's grab and became a threat with a banner he was holding on plastic poles. In the video, it is clear that it was Pool's action that caused the poles to hit the already agitated horse. Council members questioned the necessity for the arm bar hold as well as whether an announcement of arrest was ever made. While Bechard stumbled around attempting to provide evidence of such an order, Bottcher claimed: "We don't need to tell them they're under arrest before we lay hands on them." The appellants refuted IAD's comments, pointing out that they were calmly talking with officers when the arrest occurred, and that furthermore, all the charges against them stemming from the incident were dropped. Bechard noted that if Officer C did shove Close, that would be in violation of police policy. He also admitted that the two police were just as potentially biased as protestor-witnesses were, yet the witness who had passed by on a bus qualified as an independent witness. Commissioner Saltzman, convinced by Bechard that the witness mistook a shoulder grab for a push, moved to uphold the original "Insufficient Evidence" finding on the pushing incident. Francesconi, who wanted to sustain that complaint, voted no; the motion passed 3-1. Saltzman moved to change the "Use of Force" allegation finding for Winegar from "Exonerated" to "Insufficient Evidence." Francesconi voted "no," stating that there were policy issues, but they were not considering them now, and that something went wrong but it shouldn't be laid at Winegar's feet. Sten, who had wanted to sustain the complaint, said that he didn't want the finding to stand as "Exonerated," so he voted "aye." Saltzman voted "aye" and the Mayor, who rarely contradicts the police, voted "aye" (final vote: 3 to 1). A minor victory, the "Insufficient Evidence" finding at least means Winegar will have a note on his record that maybe he used excessive force in this case. Under the old PIIAC rules, the Chief can still refuse to accept Council's recommendation.
Department of Corrections: In PPR #23, we said PIIAC citizen advisor Jose Martinez stated he was "chickening out" by abstaining in a vote on an excessive force case; he actually called himself "wishy-washy." Portland Copwatch regrets the error.
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December, 2001
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People's Police Report
#25 Table of Contents
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