Site Navigation

Police Review Board Report:
Three More Officers Disciplined for Protest Actions

The Police Review Board (PRB), which meets behind closed doors to propose discipline on officers found to have committed misconduct, released its first Report of the year in February. In the previous Report, there were two cases of misconduct at protests originally not found out of policy, but the Chief changed the findings (PPR #85). This time, there are three out-of- policy protest incidents, one where it appears the Chief's office intervened again. In the other two, the Board itself proposed "Sustained" findings and the Bureau agreed. The new Report includes a scant six cases, only four of which led to discipline.

The first protest case is likely the case of Dmitri Stoyanoff, who was attacked by officers while holding a sign about registering people to vote. The officer in this case resigned, apparently in the face of being disciplined; the Report shows a 4-3 vote against Sustaining the allegation, but the cover sheet lists category "D" discipline, which includes days off without pay, indicating former Deputy Chief Davis over-rode the Board. If this was the Stoyanoff case, the officer was Matthew Bigoni (#50904), and the victim was awarded $100,000 in a settlement (also PPR #85). The case only came before the Board because the "Independent" Police Review (IPR) and an Assistant Chief opposed the original finding by the officer's supervisor, who thought striking the man in the knees before he was given a chance to comply was reasonable.

At another protest, two separate officers drove police cars through a barricade erected by protestors without using lights or sirens. One officer was given Command Counseling while another was never identified but was also found guilty. Three other vehicles followed them, but did use lights and sirens. The majority of the Board found the officer violated policy and endangered community members, but did not think the driving was "reckless" in part because the officer had asked their Sergeant before crashing through the barricade. This case made it to the Board because IPR and Internal Affairs challenged the officer's supervisor.

The third protest case ended with a Letter of Reprimand for a "higher ranking" officer who without justification pepper sprayed someone standing near a car. A recurring theme is the Board asking for lenience based on the "chaotic" nature of the 2020 racial justice protests, including a request to bend the rules for cops who are found to have used excessive force but are engaged in certain special roles. In this case, the person was standing 5-10 feet away from a vehicle which had an open driver's door and a running engine. Even though the person wasn't actively resisting, nor could the police know for sure they were the driver of the car, the cop approached and pepper sprayed them to prevent them from getting into the car and using it as a weapon. Who sent this case to the Board was redacted from the Report, a theme which also ran through this set of cases which harkens back to Portland Copwatch's urge to use the missing words to play "Police Review Board Mad Libs."

In the final case which led to discipline, an officer was given two weeks off without pay for driving 90 miles an hour in a 30 MPH zone without lights or sirens, leading to a collision. It's not clear what happened to the person in the other car, nor why this case was investigated as "Bureau only" when clearly a civilian was involved. The officer apparently had three similar incidents in the past three years as well. When the PRB suggested the officer be moved to a position where they don't have to drive, former Deputy Chief Davis "declined" this to allow the officer to improve. The PRB also said to ask whether the Risk division at PPB could still insure this officer.

The two other cases in the Report are (a) one where an officer fired "less lethal" rounds at someone standing near a hotel during a protest, but the finding was "Not Sustained" (insufficient evidence) and (b) what appears to be a female officer complaining that a supervisor tends to assign women to clerical duties more often than men; the supervisor was "Exonerated" (in policy).

The Board made a number of recommendations, including two about leniency for officers who violate policy during protests, a rather concerning idea which Deputy Chief Frome responded is already being considered.

Significantly, though the hearings all took place between April and December 2021, four of the incidents occurred in 2020. No incidents of officer use of deadly force were considered, even though there are nine such incidents from 2020 and 2021 which have apparently not come before the Board yet. The PPB once again quietly put the Report on their website, leading to Portland Copwatch scooping the media with its analysis, even though it did not come to our attention for almost two weeks after publication.

Find the PRB report at portlandoregon.gov/police/55365
(note: this link may move in the near future to somewhere on portland.gov).

Copwatch's analysis can be found at portlandcopwatch.org/PRBanalysis 0222.html .

May, 2022
Also in PPR #86

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.

People's Police Report #86 Table of Contents
Back to Portland Copwatch home page
Peace and Justice Works home page
Back to top