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Discipline in Police Review Board Report: Hit-and-Run, Violence vs. Protestors, Military Pervo- Cop, Car Crash and More

In addition to the ten cases involving deadly force (see article), the Police Review Board (PRB) Report released in September included 11 other incidents. With a few exceptions, it is hard to identify the officers or community members involved, since the Report only includes dates for the deadly force cases, never includes names (even though those already released to the public are allowed to be published), and continues to redact information such as the gender of those involved. While discipline was proposed in all 11 incidents, it was unable to be imposed in some cases because the officers retired/resigned, and in the case of a protestor who was shoved down, the officer could not be identified.

Here is a quick summary of six of the incidents:

--In 2020, an officer pushed a male protestor (gender pronoun not redacted!) to the ground as he was walking away. The PRB found the man had his hands up and was not posing a threat and found misconduct on a 7-0 vote, leading to a request for a variety of possible corrective actions. Chief Day issued discipline of one day off without pay.

--Also in 2020, likely for the case of Erin Wenzel, a community medic who won a $40,272 jury award in 2022 (PPR #88), the verdict meant an automatic finding against the officer... but since nobody knew who that was, the Board did not recommend discipline and nobody was punished.

--An officer who conducted an improper foot chase (a finding the Board did not review) also used a Taser on the suspect. The PRB found the force was out of policy and recommended two days off without pay. The Chief agreed, but the officer resigned before losing that income.

--Officer Scott Groshong, who hit a pedestrian with a police van and pleaded guilty to criminal charges (PPR #87), was found to have used unreasonable force, failed to report it, and to have been untruthful. Lesser-known was Sgt. Christopher Kenagy, who was in the van with Groshong and said he didn't know the person was hit, was dinged for failing to report the incident and lack of truthfulness. An unnamed supervisor also was found guilty for failure to report. Groshong had already retired before the Board recommended firing him. Kenagy, too, faced termination but retired first (see sidebar for other info). The supervisor received a Letter of Reprimand.

--An officer chased a suspect into Washington State, where the PPB has no jurisdiction, and deliberately crashed into the person's car-- violating both the Pursuit and Use of Force policies. The Board unanimously found misconduct and Chief Day agreed to give the officer two days off without pay.

--A cop who was also in the military touched the genitals of a male fellow soldier (gender obvious from the narrative), failed to report their being investigated for this sex crime, and lied about having confessed. The officer retired or resigned before they could be fired.

There were also three cases in which procedural issues during investigations led to a Letter of Reprimand (in a child molestation case where the officer did not collect evidence), two days off without pay (in a Domestic Violence incident where a pregnant person had been punched in the face), and Command Counseling (a talking-to) in a case where a person's belongings in a shopping cart were not properly processed as property.

Two of the cases did not involve community members. In one, an officer lied about whether they had claimed to have a disability and whether they were being treated for it. Per policy, lying means "you're fired," and that's what Chief Day told the cop. The other was a perennial violation for these Reports: a DUI. An officer showed up to work while drunk having driven to work in a police car at 10:45 AM. Though the Board voted 5-0 to find the officer violated policy and could be fired, they hoped for some mercy. Chief Lovell showed such compassion and gave the officer a week off without pay plus an agreement to go to rehab. (And by the way, this is not the same cop who showed up to a crime scene drunk who was mentioned in the December 2023 PRB Report-- PPR #91.)

Overall, it never ceases to amaze how many ways officers find to violate community trust and their own rules. As Portland Copwatch has noted before, they will get fired for lying, stealing, cheating and sexual misconduct... but never for use of force / killing someone.

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Retired Vice with a Vice

Recently retired PPB Sergeant Christopher Kenagy was arrested for soliciting prostitution, a misdemeanor (Portland Mercury blog, November 21). Kenagy retired in January 2024 after being on the Drugs and Vice Division and facing discipline for being a passenger in a police surveillance van that intentionally ran down an alleged shoplifting suspect in 2020. Kenagy and his partner, Scott Groshong, failed to report the assault with the van. Both Groshong and Kenagy retired before being fired (see PRB article). In 2002 Kenagy shot and killed 29-year old Anthony Utah-Zona Beck, an allegedly suicidal man (PPR #27 [note PPR # change from print issue]).

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January, 2025
Also in PPR #94

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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