Site Navigation

Money Which Could Be Spent for Other Human Needs Continues to Flow to Police Violence Survivors
Some Protestors Settle Lawsuits, Another Cop Escapes Criminal Charges, Munitions Restrictions Rolled Back

Portland Copwatch's parent group Peace and Justice Works commonly refers to the US military budget with the slogan "Money for human needs, not war." The same can be said for the Portland Police Bureau's budget, on top of which the City pays hundreds of thousands of dollars in claims against officers for misconduct, particularly stemming from protest actions. If police would stop injuring people, we could pay for more housing. A further $112,000 was approved by Council since January for people injured at protests. Meanwhile, another officer potentially facing criminal charges for egregious behavior at the 2020 racial justice protests was let off, and the City successfully lobbied the state legislature to loosen restrictions on crowd control munitions put into place just last year.

In January, City Council approved a $19,000 settlement for Demetrus Batchelor, who says officers broke his tailbone. Batchelor is Black and was protesting at a 2020 event for Black Lives when the police sprayed him with chemicals, crashed into the back of his car, injuring him, then threw him to the ground while arresting him (KOIN-TV6, February 16, 2021). Two weeks later, Council approved $22,500 for Lydia Fuller, who was hit in the chest with a "less lethal" round in 2020. The City Attorney initially responded by saying she couldn't prove it was the Portland Police who harmed her (Willamette Week, January 19). On March 16, a $12,000 payment went to Julia Leggett for police hitting her with a "less lethal" projectile in the leg in 2020, causing a gruesome injury (KATU-TV2, June 8, 2020). On April 6, Council approved a payment of $58,500 for Leo Hall, a man who was walking with a cane and photographing a protest in August 2018 when an officer hit him in the head with a baton, causing brain damage (Willamette Week, February 9, 2020).

Members of the public had to pull the first three settlements off the Council's "consent agenda," a package of legislation usually passed without reading the items into the record. At the March 16 hearing, Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty announced Council had come to consensus that only settlements of $50,000 or more would be on the regular agenda. Considering that's a bare minimum to earn in one year to afford to live in Portland, that is too high. PCW believes since any settlement over $5000 has to go before Council, all police misconduct suits should be on the regular agenda. Moreover, when Council is discussing spending taxpayer money to cover the alleged misconduct (settlements don't admit wrongdoing), they are not having discussions about the underlying policy and training issues that led to these lawsuits. In another sign of how these cases are not being taken seriously, the paperwork often describes them as injuries sustained during "encounters" with the Portland Police.

After the District Attorney stopped looking into Officers Brent Taylor and Thomas Clark (PPR #85), they also dropped the investigation into Detective Erik Kammerer, despite video of him pushing protestors to the ground and allegations he hit a homeowner in the back of the head with a baton. The Oregon Department of Justice was conducting the investigation and claims there was no criminal activity (Oregonian, February 27).

In addition, Officer Taylor was not found out of policy by administrative investigations into actions that led a judge to find the city in contempt of a court order against certain uses of force. Director Ross Caldwell of the "Independent" Police Review apparently said the way Bureau policies are written make it difficult to find officers in violation (Oregonian, January 21).

In Salem, the City told legislators that officers found the state's 2021 law limiting use of chemical weapons and "less lethal" munitions confusing, and as a result were not using any weapons for fear of being criminally charged. Despite strong testimony from the ACLU of Oregon and people who had been harmed by such weapons, the law was amended, bringing the state back to what many see as the previous status quo.

Unlike Portland, where only one officer-- Corey Budworth-- has been indicted for violence against protestors in 2020, nineteen officers in Austin, TX are facing criminal charges for injuries they caused with "beanbag" guns (KXAL- NBC affiliate Austin, February 25).

Seriously Injured Man Gets $400K

On March 9, City Council approved a settlement of $400,000 for Kyle Odell, who was headed to jail on a misdemeanor warrant in Officer Peter Gill's police car in January 2020. Gill lost control of the car and, according to the City Attorney, crashed the rear passenger side into a phone pole. Odell was described in a news article as suffering "an abdominal injury with internal bleeding that required the surgical removal of over one foot of his colon [and] a traumatic brain injury" (Portland Tribune, January 25, 2021). The article also says Gill was driving 53 miles an hour in a 30 MPH zone. He apparently resigned in July 2020 before facing discipline for the incident.

Back to top.

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