Mental Health Association of Portland

By Steve Duin, The Oregonian - January 30, 2009

As so often happens when you move in the wake of a gifted reporter, there’s not much to add to Maxine Bernstein’s Saturday story about the exile of Portland police Officer Thomas Brennan.

Brennan made the mistake of speaking up about the conduct of Sgt. Kyle Nice, one of the sweethearts at the center of James Chasse case. When his precinct commander, Mike Reese, exonerated Nice — who “acted completely and absolutely professionally” — without interviewing the three primary witnesses to Nice’s professionalism, Brennan went public with his complaint.

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From the Oregonian, January 29, 2010

More than two months after Portland police began an internal investigation into Officer Christopher Humphreys‘ Nov. 14 beanbag shotgun shooting of a 12-year-old girl, investigators ordered Humphreys in for his first interview Friday.

Humphreys went off work on stress disability leave, shortly after the Portland Police Bureau announced an investigation into the shooting.

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From The Oregonian, January 21, 2010

James Chasse Jr. is pictured cuffed face down on the sidewalk. Chasse died later by broad-based, blunt force trauma to his chest, as ruled by the state medical examiner.

The ambulance company that responded in 2006 to a police call involving James P. Chasse Jr. and the paramedics who examined him without taking him to a hospital are settling their part of a wrongful death federal lawsuit.

American Medical Response Northwest Inc. is the second party to the federal lawsuit to settle before a scheduled June trial, leaving the City of Portland and its officers as the remaining defendants.

Last summer, Multnomah County settled for $925,000, and the settlement by AMR is reportedly about $600,000.

AMR’s move comes after U.S. District Judge Garr M. King threw out allegations that paramedics acted with negligence and discrimination against a patient with mental illness, but allowed a wrongful death claim to proceed.

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Editorial column by Steve Duin, The Oregonian, January 18, 2010

Forty months, or 1,220 days, have been insufficient to produce a single minute of discipline for Chris Humphreys and the other Portland police officers who were on hand when the 145-pound James Chasse was taken down in the Pearl and, somehow, died.

Yes, I know: Humphreys admitted tackling Chasse, breaking 16 of his ribs, and the poor guy died of blunt-force trauma while in police custody. But I’d hate to add to what deputy city attorney James Rice calls the “overwhelming, inflammatory, negative and pervasive” media coverage of the case.

That coverage has so tainted the jury pool, Rice insists, that his clients in the civil case can’t possibly geta fair trial in Oregon. Those clients include Humphreys and Officer Kyle Nice, police Chief Rosie Sizer, former Mayor Tom Potter and the city.

In his 16-page request for a change of venue, Rice condemns the “pervasive, prejudicial publicity that has saturated Portland for the last three years,” or as long as it took Sizer and the cops to complete their internal inquiry.

He cites the “attacks on the credibility” of police officers in random letters to the editor as undermining the ability of potential jurors “to consider them as honest, trustworthy witnesses at trial.”

He cites a documentary on Chasse’s death, “Alien Boy,” as possibly adding “another layer of sensationalism that would inhibit a fair trial.”

“How strange,” the film’s director, Brian Lindstrom observed last week in a guest column for The Stump, The Oregonian’s online opinion site, “that the city cited my film as one cause for potential jurors in a civil trial to be adversely prejudiced against the Portland police when the film has yet to be completed, yet alone screened.”

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From Willamette Week, January 15th, 2010

This week we reported that Portland Police internal-affairs detectives have yet to interview Officer Christopher Humphreys about shooting a 12-year-old girl with a beanbag gun two months ago.

The bureau is investigating Humphreys for possible violations of policy from the Nov. 12 beanbag shooting — a probe that brought hundreds of cops downtown to rally against Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman for taking Humphreys’ badge.

Saltzman later capitulated in the face of a no-confidence vote by the police union and returned Humphreys to desk duty.

Humphreys was also involved in the 2006 death of James Chasse Jr. If the bureau that took three-plus years to investigate Chasse’s death still hasn’t interviewed Humpheys for the beanbag probe two months later — and indeed, Humphreys hasn’t even been asked — how long might the beanbag probe take?

Months? Years?

“We have no idea,” says Detective Mary Wheat, spokeswoman for the police bureau. “It does take a little bit of time to make sure that we are thorough.”

It’s not only the public that has an interest in swift justice for Humphreys. During the Chasse probe, the police union repeatedly criticized Chief Rosie Sizer for leaving the officers involved hanging for years in uncertainty.

In the interest of all involved, we asked Sgt. Scott Westerman, head of the police union, to explain the “use of force review” currently under way in the Humphreys investigation.

The bottom line is this: Even if Humphreys were interviewed tomorrow, we’d still be a long way from a resolution. But if you’re thinking this explanation about the process will clear things up for you, please refer to the Tokyo subway map above.

Here’s Westerman’s explanation of the process, blow by blow:

1. Internal Affairs detectives investigate. (In this case, it’s retired Detective Lynn Courtney, who has a solid reputation among officers.)

2. The investigator writes a summary and forwards the entire investigation to the boss at Internal Affairs. (In this case, Capt. Ed Brumfield.)

3. Brumfield looks over the material and, if he approves, forwards it to Leslie Stevens, head of the police Office of Accountability and Professional Standards.

4. Stevens forwards the investigation to the city auditor’s Independent Police Review Division (which Stevens used to head).

5. IPR determines whether the case was thoroughly investigated.

6. IPR passes the case back to Stevens.

7. Stevens passes the case to Assistant Chief Brian Martinek.

8. Martinek passes the case to the officer’s precinct commander (in this case, Transit Division Commander Vince Jarmer.)

9. Jarmer makes a finding based on IA’s summary, proposing what he thinks is the appropriate discipline, or no discipline at all.

10. Jarmer forwards his finding and recommendation back to Martinek.

11. If Jarmer recommends there should be no discipline, or just a letter of reprimand or command counseling, and Martinek concurs, the case could be over. Or Martinek could send the case to a bureau review board.

12. On the other hand if Jarmer recommends heavier discipline of a day off or more and Martinek concurs, the case must go to either the bureau’s Performance Review Board or Use of Force Review Board for review.

13. The six-member or eight-member board meets and reviews the case.

14. The review board hands its recommendations on discipline to Sizer. The members may be unanimous, or each member of the board may have a different recommendation.

15. Sizer reviews those recommendations from the board.

16. If Sizer agrees the officer should be disciplined, she informs Humphreys of her proposed discipline.

17. Humphreys has the option of a due-process hearing where he can provide mitigating factors.

18. Sizer takes her own recommendation to Saltzman.

19. Saltzman makes the final call on discipline.

Form The Oregonian, January 12, 2010

James Chasse Jr. is pictured cuffed face down on the sidewalk. Chasse died later by broad-based, blunt force trauma to his chest, as ruled by the state medical examiner.

In a highly unusual move, the City of Portland has asked a federal judge to move the trial involving the death of James P. Chasse Jr. out of state, saying potential jurors in Portland and the Willamette Valley have been tainted by “inflammatory and pervasive media coverage.”

The defendants contend that Eugene would be the only alternative trial site in Oregon, because it’s the only other federal district court in Oregon, aside from Portland, that is technologically capable of allowing witnesses to testify remotely from Portland via video.

Yet deputy city attorney James Rice argues that Eugene would not be a neutral site considering what he described as the “statewide distribution of the Oregonian newspaper and Eugene’s geographical proximity to Portland.”

“This means that Eugene has been tainted by the same pervasive, prejudicial publicity that has saturated Portland for the last three years,” Rice wrote in a 16-page legal motion filed in U.S. District Court.

“Consequently, this case presents the unique situation where defendants’ right to a jury trial necessitates a change of venue outside of the state of Oregon.”

The city is seeking oral arguments before Judge Garr M. King on its change of venue request. Chasse’s attorney has time to file a response. A trial has been set for June 1.

Chasse, 42, who suffered from schizophrenia, died in police custody on Sept. 17, 2006. An autpsy by the state medical examiner showed he died of broad-based blunt force trauma to the chest. Police say they saw him acting oddly, and possibly urinating in the street in the Pearl District and when they approached, he ran. Police chased Chasse, knocked him to the ground and struggled to take him into custody.

Paramedics called to the scene said Chasse’s vital signs were normal, but jail medical staff refused to book him. Chasse died as he was being transported by patrol car to a hospital.

The federal lawsuit contends police used excessive force and police and paramedics failed to provide adequate or proper medical care to Chasse.

The motion for a change of venue include defendants Chief Rosie Sizer, former Mayor Tom Potter, Officer Christopher Humphreys and Sgt. Kyle Nice.

Rice writes that while a change of venue to Washington or Idaho likely would inconvenience the parties to the lawsuit and witnesses and expects the plaintiffs to complain, he urges the federal judge to put the “interest of justice” above those inconveniences.

“This unrelenting judgemental coverage of Chasse’s death in the media over the last 3 years has inflamed the community against the police and tainted the potential jury pool,” Rice wrote. “The city can’t get a fair and impartial jury anywhere in Oregon that has the capability to handle this trial.”

Further, Rice argues that Chasse’s family attorney, Tom Steenson, chose to play a high-profile role to elicit sympathy for his clients and blames him for creating a “media climate” that makes it impossible for the city to get a fair, impartial trial.

“To a large extent, plaintiff’s attorney has created this situation,” Rice wrote.

Rice submitted to the court excerpts of print stories, editorials and letters to the editor from The Mercury, Portland Tribune and the Oregonian, as well as online comments and TV coverage, and a DVD of a teaser to a movie being filmed about Chasse called “Alien Boy.”

He wrote that printed opinion pieces and letters referred to police as “goons” and “thugs,” commentators described police as “beating” Chasse to death and articles addressed Humphreys’ past use of force cases that wouldn’t be admissable in trial.

The city hired a local legal video specialist to compile the Internet media coverage of the Chasse case for the court’s review.

Usually, courts don’t decide on venue changes until after the voir dire examination of jurors. But Rice asks this court to “not rely heavily on precedent” but make a decision much earlier because of the complexity of the case.

A date for oral argument on the city’s change of venue request has not been set.

From OPB News, December 21, 2009

Recently, a video of Portland police officer Chris Humphreys arresting a 12-year-old girl by shooting her with a bean bag, highlighted a disconnect between members of the community and police officers.

Kathleen Ris: “In my opinion, there’s obviously something that needs to change with that officer and he should be on administrative leave.”

Mark White: “We saw Chris Humphries do precisely what needed to be done. It was a reasonable response…”

The time most people find themselves dealing with a police officer is during a traffic stop. If you have your license and insurance, it’s basically a question of whether you can schmooze out of a ticket.

For most people, it doesn’t feel like a life or death situation. But for an officer, says retired Portland Policeman Mark White, it’s different.

Mark White: “In the back of your mind, if you can’t see what’s going on in of the car, which is often the case, especially at night, you can’t see who you’re stopping. You have to be on alert. You have to have somewhat of a combat mentality, initially. Once you’ve made that initial contact and you’re comfortable this person doesn’t present a threat to you. Then the dymanics change at that point.”

White starts up one of the half dozen motorbikes in his garage. He’s got time to tinker with them now he’s retired after 29-years on the force.

During that time, he never shot anybody. In fact, he says, most cops aren’t interested in getting into a fight.

Mark White: “There’s too much liability now. There’s too much scrutiny on use of force. and I think that they screen for people that are more likely to negotiate, which is good. You’re going to find an officer here and there, maybe having a bad day. Maybe he has had previous contact with somebody, his patience is running thin. He’s not going to spend a half hour negotiating with somebody. He could have another 10 calls stacked upon his MDC, he’s going to take action.”

Each officer gets an area in which they’re expected to clear the calls.

Of course if there’s a 9-1-1 call for a robbery-in-progress or some other such emergency, they jump on it.

Mark White: “There is a bit of a combat mentality to day-in and day-out living as a cop. You know it’s unlikely that you’re going to get in a gunfight that shift. But it’s always a possibility.”

That possibility is something that adds to the disconnect between how officers see the world, and how many Portlanders see it.

It’s a disconnect that the chief, Rosie Sizer, deals with every day.

Traditionally, police brass have been loath to second guess an officer’s use of force. But after Sizer became chief, she directed officers to take control of a situation using the minimum force necessary — and only if that didn’t work, to step up to the next level.

Mark White: “I don’t think there’s a big objection to that kind of philosophy. It’s certainly not practical in all situations. There can be any number of kinds of scenarios where an officer might have to go to deadly force in a split second. There’s no time to go through a continuum of any kind.”

It’s that kind of split-second decision that terrifies Kathleen Ris.

She says her 19-year-old son, Joe, is bipolar, suffers from severe anxiety, and won’t take his medications. He lives on the streets downtown.

She’s petrified that one day, he’ll come face to face with a police officer.

Kathleen Ris: “You know, there are key words that you can use and it’s just a matter of body language and things that you can say to de-escalate a situation. To drop that level of volatility. To drop the level of adrenaline. And sometimes it’s just taking a step back and breathing for 10 seconds. You know if it’s not an absolute threat, if someone’s not standing in front of you waving a gun, why can’t they do that.”

Her fears stem in part from the case of James Chasse, a mentally-ill man who died in police custody three years ago.

She thinks officers need to consider themselves social workers as much as law enforcement officials.

Kathleen Ris: “I don’t envy their job because they have to deal with every personality in the book. And I just don’t think they equip the officers with the right kind of training or social skills to go out and deal with the vast majority of the population. Especially here in downtown Portland.”

Meanwhile, she goes about her day in fear.

Kathleen Ris: “I get up every morning and pray that I don’t get the phone call. That’s he’s not dead.That he’s not incarcerated again. That he hasn’t been shot. That he hasn’t been sexually assaulted. I just thank God every morning that I wake up, that I didn’t get that call.”

From The Oregonian, November 20, 2009

Portland police Officer Christopher Humphreys filed a stress-related disability claim as the Portland Police Bureau began an internal investigation into his Saturday night beanbag shotgun shooting of a 12-year-old girl on a Northeast Portland MAX platform.

The move is consistent with a long-standing pattern of Portland police officers taking stress disability while facing investigation or potential discipline, but police and others say reforms to the disability system should prevent abuse.

Whether Humphreys’ actions could impede an internal inquiry is unclear; Portland police are proceeding with the investigation, contacting witnesses and others, said Detective Mary Wheat, a Portland Police Bureau spokeswoman.

“The goal is to have it done as quickly and thoroughly as is possible,” Wheat said.

Portland police union president Sgt. Scott Westerman said Friday that Humphreys was “hung out to dry for three years” while the bureau investigated his role in the death of James P. Chasse Jr., a 42-year-old man with schizophrenia. Chasse was knocked to the ground after he ran from officers who suspected he was urinating in a street. He died in police custody from blunt force trauma to the chest Sept. 17, 2006.

This month, City Council member and police commissioner Dan Saltzman proposed that Humphreys, a 10-year veteran assigned to the transit police, be suspended for two weeks for failing to insist that Chasse be taken by ambulance to a hospital after police stunned him with a Taser and after the jail refused to book him because of his physical condition. Saltzman also found that Humphreys failed to provide paramedics at the scene with a full account of the violent struggle.

“Now that takes a toll on anyone,” Westerman said.

Humphreys was devastated this week, Westerman said, when the commissioner ordered him off the street and had his badge and gun removed while police investigate the 12-year-old’s shooting.

Westerman, though, would not comment on Humphreys’ recent disability claim to the Fire & Police Disability & Retirement Fund. Instead, he spoke generally, saying the voter-approved reforms adopted in 2006 removed the board from hearing claims, leaving it up to independent hearing officers.

The reforms, passed in November 2006, did change the makeup of the fund’s board, previously dominated by police and fire employees. It also removed the board from voting on claims, instead passing that authority to the fund’s staff or hearings officers.

Every stress claim approved for police since the reforms has been valid, Westerman said, and has been taken so officers can preserve “their own mental health, and to see and receive the assistance that they need,” Westerman said.

Meanwhile on Friday, the police union prepared to mail ballots today to its 922 members to hold a vote of no confidence in Chief Rosie Sizer and Saltzman. Ballots will be collected Nov. 27 and the results announced Nov. 30. The union also plans a rally Tuesday in support of Humphreys. “I believe our faith in the leadership of the Portland Police Bureau is gone,” Westerman said.

He said that Humphreys acted as he was trained and did everything to minimize injury to the 12-year-old girl.

According to the bureau, Humphreys shot the girl once in the thigh as fellow Transit Officer Aaron Dauchy struggled to take her into custody on a MAX platform at Northeast 148th Avenue. Police said the girl had swung at Dauchy’s head when he tried to arrest her for violating a TriMet exclusion.

Dauchy took her to the ground. Humphreys, who arrived with a beanbag shotgun over his right shoulder, pinned it to his side and tried to reach out with his left hand to help grab the girl’s hands, but he could not, Westerman said. Then Humphreys stepped back and circled the girl, waiting for a chance to fire. One shot struck the girl in the thigh, leaving a bruise.

“If the officers were able to grab control of her hands, none of this would have happened,” Westerman said. The chief and commissioner asked internal affairs to determine whether the force was justified and whether the beanbag firing at such close range fell within training.

Bureau directives say nothing about distance restrictions, but the force trains officers to shoot a suspect in the torso at no less than 10 feet with no restrictions on a person’s extremities, police say.

During the past several years, reports from the Police Assessment Resource Center, outside experts, have recommended that the bureau adopt a more specific policy on beanbag shotguns, noting that model policies recommend shots be aimed at the abdomen, thighs or forearms and not at the head, neck or groin, with optimal shooting distance between 21 and 50 feet. They note that rounds present a risk of death or serious injury at less than 10 feet when fired at the chest, head, neck or groin.

Westerman said he was disturbed that Sizer did not release the police report, which he says shows that the girl’s mother apologized to Dauchy.

“Her (the girl’s) actions is what led to the use of force against her,” he said. “This perception this was a 12-year-old girl going to the zoo with her family is wrong.”

Saltzman did not return calls Friday afternoon about Humphreys’ disability claim. Wheat said the chief would not discuss any claim. She also had no response to the union’s position.

“She understands the high emotions that are running and doesn’t want to add to that by making statements,” Wheat said.

Steve Duin

In the brutal chain of personalities and events that have licensed Portland police to turn a beanbag shotgun on a 12-year-old girl, the aloof commissioner, absentee mayor and anything-goes police chief aren’t nearly as significant as James Chasse Jr., Eunice Crowder and Barbara Weich.

Chasse, of course, died after Officer Christopher Humphreys pancaked the 145-pound schizophrenic when he had the audacity to flee the cops’ approach.

Crowder? In 2003, police pepper-sprayed the 71-year-old blind woman with such enthusiasm that her glass eye popped out of its socket, then used a Taser on her four times as she lay in the dirt.

And Weich? In 2005, the 58-year-old gallery owner tossed a derogative term at one of Portland’s finest — Officer Greg Adrian — after the motorcycle cop gave her a ticket, she says, then mocked her annoyance.

Adrian followed Weich over the Hawthorne Bridge and pulled her over again. “He then hit her in the face with enough force to leave bruising on her cheek and neck,” said Greg Kafoury, her attorney. “He then grabs her arm, pulls it out the window, twists it, puts his weight down on it … fractures the arm.”

Weich subsequently moved to rural Idaho. “She was shattered by the experience,” Kafoury said.

Adrian? “He received no discipline,” Commissioner Randy Leonard reminds us.

Portland police are all about imposing discipline, not exercising it. For years now, escalating displays of excessive force have prompted nothing but shrugs from the police chief and six-figure settlement offers from city attorneys.

Not until Humphreys unloaded his beanbag shotgun at that unruly 12-year-old did Commissioner Dan Saltzman express his annoyance. Overruling chief Rosie Sizer, he put Humphreys on leave. With pay.

“The first glimmer of light I’ve seen in seven years,” Leonard said. “The first time I’ve seen an incident that I considered inexcusable and unjustified in which the chief and the police commissioner followed up.”

Like thousands of Portlanders, they watched the TriMet videos.

The videos offer a vivid contrast to the Police Bureau statement, which tries to explain all this away by insisting Officers Aaron Dauchy and Humphreys were responding to a call about a party “involving several known gang members,” marauding teenagers “wanting to fight,” and a gun that, conveniently, had just been discovered in bushes a mile away.

Given that dramatic buildup, I expected to see Dauchy and Humphreys wade into a chaotic mob scene on the MAX platform at Northeast 148th.

Not even close. The platform is virtually empty as Dauchy first cuffs a juvenile male he knows to be on the TriMet exclusion list, then orders the 12-year-old girl off the train. As he moves to cuff her, she swings on him and Dauchy takes her to the ground. Humphreys is circling the tussle with the shotgun, seemingly desperate to get his licks in.

Every day in Portland, parents are forced to rein in angry adolescents without hauling out the shotgun. When did bureau protocol put the official stamp-of-approval on child abuse?

“The real problem,” Leonard says, “lies in the chief’s office.” And the problem is augmented by the churlishness of the union, the charade of “independent” citizen review, and the cops’ refusal to admit mistakes, much less learn from them.

“The city as it relates to the police bureau is essentially leaderless,” said Chuck Currie, one of the clergy at Chasse’s 2006 memorial service. At the time, he cautioned people to have patience and push for justice.

“Asking for patience,” Currie said Friday, “was a mistake on my part.”

Below are all the relevant news articles about the suspension of Christopher Humphreys on November 19, 2009.

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Trimet surveillance video, November 19, 2009
Live blog, videos: Portland police suspend officer who shot girl, 12, with bean bag, The Oregonian
Portland officer suspended after shooting girl, 12, with beanbag gun, The Oregonian, November 19, 2009
Police officer suspended after girl shot with beanbag, Portland Tribune, November 19, 2009
Officer On Leave For Using Force Against 12-Year-Old, KPTV.com, November 19, 2009
Officer on leave after shooting girl with beanbag gun, KGW.com, November 19, 2009
Saltzman Suspends Chasse Cop For Beanbag Shot On 12-Year-Old Girl, Portland Mercury, November 19, 2009
Chasse Cop Christopher Humphreys Placed on Administrative Leave, Willamette Week, November 19, 2009
Weekend incident prompts officer suspension, KATU.com, November 19, 2009
Officer put on leave during abuse of force investigation, KOIN.com, November 19, 2009

Rogue cop at it again, Jack Bogadanski, November 19, 2009

NOVEMBER 20, 2009

Portland police vote “no confidence” on Saltzman and Sizer - KOIN.com

Experts consider training, procedure in use-of-force case, KATU.com
Police union plans to hold a vote of no confidence for Sizer, Saltzman, KATU.com

Police union defends officer on leave over beanbag gun incident, KGW.com

Portland officer in 12-year-old girl’s beanbag shooting files for stress disability, The Oregonian
Mayor supports officer’s suspension for shooting girl with beanbag, Portland Tribune
Police Union Plans No-Confidence Vote on Saltzman and Sizer, Willamette Week
Shoot beanbag at 12-year-old girl? Just the latest from the Portland police, The Oregonian
That thinning blue line, editorial from The Oregonian
Police Union Planning No-Confidence Vote, KPTV.com

DOCUMENTS

Use of Force Continuum, Portland Police Bureau (PDF)
Use of force policy - City of Hillsboro (PDF)
Defensive Tools Policy - Washington County Sheriff’s Office (PDF)
Portland Police Association press release, November 20, 2009

READ - Everything about Christopher Humphreys

From The Oregonian, November 19, 2009

Portland Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman overruled the police chief for the second time in recent months, ordering Officer Chris Humphreys be placed on paid leave as police investigate his firing of a beanbag shotgun at a 12-year-old girl.

The encounter was caught on TriMet videotape at 10:47 p.m. Saturday, showing Humphreys circling the girl after his fellow Transit Officer Aaron Dauchy had taken the girl to the ground and continued to struggle with her on the MAX platform at Northeast 148th Avenue. The girl had struck Dauchy in the face when he tried to take her into custody on a TriMet exclusion violation. Humphreys, police say, repeatedly warned the girl to stop resisting or he’d shoot his beanbag gun, and fired one shot, striking her in the thigh at close range.

“After reviewing the video, I am troubled by it,” Chief Rosie Sizer said Thursday, reading from a prepared statement.

She has asked the police internal affairs division to determine if the use of force was justified, and if the firing of the beanbag shotgun at close range was consistent with bureau training.

The chief on Wednesday wanted to remove Humphreys from the street and put him on a desk job, but Saltzman directed he be placed on paid leave instead.

Saltzman, who was waiting for a community public safety meeting to begin at Jefferson High School Thursday evening, said he was worried by what he saw in the video. “As a layperson, it did not strike me as being a necessary use of force,” he said. “I did not want him on the street.”

Moments after Sizer’s news conference wrapped up inside the Justice Center, police union President Sgt. Scott Westerman stood outside vigorously defending Humphreys, backed by more than 40 officers who stood shoulder to shoulder on the center’s front steps.

Westerman decried the actions taken by the police administrators, calling them politically motivated and further fallout from the pending federal lawsuit involving Humphreys, who is accused of using excessive force against James P. Chasse Jr., a 42-year-old schizophrenic man who died in police custody in September 2006. Humphreys faces a proposed two-week unpaid suspension in that case.

Police said the shooting occurred shortly after transit police were called to assist other officers who were dealing with a rowdy crowd of 75 to 100 teenagers leaving a party near Northeast 162nd Avenue and Halsey, including several known gang members. Officers were told a gun had been recovered in bushes near the party.

Dauchy and Humphreys had gone to the MAX platform on 162nd and saw 20 to 30 teens board the westbound train. Dauchy recognized the 12-year-old girl, knew she had been excluded by TriMet, and, with Humphreys, followed the train to Northeast 148th Avenue. Police said Dauchy called to the girl to get off the train and when he began to take her into custody, she swung at him.

Westerman said the girl, who had previously been excluded from TriMet in Clackamas County for having stolen a purse, was “violently and aggressively” fighting with Dauchy, and Humphreys stepped in to use less-lethal force, as trained, to protect his fellow officer.

“This action was appropriate. It was justified. It was warranted,” Westerman said, trying to speak over the rush-hour traffic. “This is exactly what the citizens of Portland expect their police officers to do.”

Police written directives do not say anything about the distance an officer must stand from a subject before shooting a beanbag shotgun, but officers say they’re trained to be at least 10 feet away when shooting at the torso.

“Ten feet to the torso, the extremities are fair game,” Westerman said.

Westerman said he doesn’t have any confidence in the chief or police commissioner, and the union’s executive board would be meeting tonight to determine if a vote of no-confidence is warranted. “Had they not already had a predetermined bias against Officer Humphreys, we would not be here today,” Westerman said.

But other people said they were glad to see the bureau take decisive action and initiate an investigation.

“We’ve been worried about this man for three years now, and this confirms our concerns,” said Jason Renaud, a volunteer with the Mental Health Association of Portland. “We believe Humphreys should not be a Portland police officer.”

Dan Handelman, of Portland Copwatch, said he watched the video and doesn’t think it helps the police. “She’s 12 years old — what is she, the incredible hulk? She’s unarmed. It doesn’t make any sense.”

He also said he’s disturbed by the multiple allegations of excessive force brought against Humphreys in recent lawsuits, and that the bureau hasn’t acted to deal with him until now. “Hopefully, this is the straw that will break the camel’s back,” he said.

In 2002, the bureau transitioned from the square beanbag ammunition in its 122 less-lethal guns, to sock-type bags filled with seven ounces of birdshot, to help eliminate skin injuries and allow greater accuracy. Only certain officers are trained to carry them. Police must warn the suspects before shooting the beanbag shotgun, and not just simply shout “less lethal” or “beanbag.”

Emergency paramedics at the scene said the girl had a bruise and didn’t need to be taken to the hospital. Instead, she was taken to the Donald E. Long Home juvenile detention, accused of assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and interfering with public transportation. She is not in custody and wasn’t named. Police said they’ve been in contact with her mother.

From KPTV.com, November 19 2009

Officer Shot Beanbag Gun At Girl Who Was Resisting Arrest

A Portland police officer who was criticized for his role in the death of a mentally ill man was put on administrative leave following an investigation into his use of force against a 12-year-old girl last weekend, the police chief said.

Officer Christopher Humphreys is already facing a possible two-week suspension for his role in the September 2006 death of James Chasse Jr., who suffered from schizophrenia.

Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who proposed the suspension in the Chasse death, ordered the administrative leave for Humphreys on Thursday after authorities said Humphreys fired a beanbag round at close range and hit the girl in the leg after she struck another officer and was resisting arrest.

Police Chief Rosanne Sizer announced Saltzman’s decision Thursday afternoon.

On Saturday at about 10:47 p.m., police said Officer Aaron Dauchy and Humphreys responded to a large party involving known gang members.

The officers were told a gun had been found in bushes near the party, police said, and that 75 to 100 teenagers were walking in the area of 162nd Avenue and Northeast Halsey Street.

Portland and Gresham police officers followed the teens, some of whom were shouting about wanting to fight, to the MAX platform at 162nd Avenue. They followed the train to 148th Avenue and went on to the MAX platform.

As the train pulled in, police said Dauchy recognized a teenager who was on the TriMet exclusion list.

The teen was taken into custody and Dauchy then called to a 12-year-old girl, who was also on the exclusion list, to get off the train.

As Dauchy began to take her into custody, police said she swung at him and struck his face.

The officer told the girl to stop resisting arrest and continued to struggle with her, according to the Portland Police Bureau. Dauchy gave repeated warnings to stop resisting or he would shoot a beanbag gun.

Humphreys then shot the beanbag gun at the girl’s thigh at close range, police said.

She began to comply and officers began to take her into custody when she began to resist again.

Another officer arrived and the girl was handcuffed. Medical personnel were called and advised the girl had a bruise on her thigh but did not need to be transported.

Police said the girl has appeared in juvenile court for assaulting a public safety officer, resisting arrest and interfering with public transportation. She is not in custody at this time.

The investigation is ongoing.

Sizer said she was “troubled” by a Tri-Met video that showed the incident.

“Officer Humphreys has been placed on administrative leave and I have directed the Internal Affairs Division to conduct an immediate and full investigation into whether the use of force was justified under the totality of circumstances and whether the application of the beanbag at close range was consistent with the bureau’s training,” she said.

Sgt. Scott Westerman, Portland Police Association president, accused the city of playing politics and criticized both Sizer and Saltzman, telling reporters on the steps of police headquarters he no longer had any confidence in them.

On Nov. 4, Saltzman said he wanted Sgt. Kyle Nice and Humphreys suspended without pay for 80 hours each because they failed to get proper medical treatment for Chasse, a mentally ill man who died following his arrest.

Chasse was arrested Sept. 17, 2006, after being stunned by a Taser and chased. According to autopsy results, Chasse suffered more than a dozen broken ribs, including some that punctured a lung and caused massive internal bleeding.

The officers involved, including Humphreys, were criticized for failing to get proper medical treatment for Chasse.

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the Chasse family is still pending, accusing Portland police officers of excessive force and denying Chasse appropriate medical attention.

A separate lawsuit against Multnomah County was settled for $925,000.

From KGW.com, November 19, 2009

A Portland Police officer investigated in the death of James Chasse has been placed on administrative leave after shooting a 12-year-old girl in the thigh with a beanbag gun during an incident at a MAX stop Saturday night.

Officer Christopher Humphrey shot the girl with a beanbag gun after she attacked officers trying to arrest her, police Chief Rosie Sizer said Thursday.

Video surveillance of the confrontation was captured on a TriMet surveillance camera of the incident involving Officer Aaron Dauchy and Officer Christopher Humphreys.

“After reviewing the video, I am troubled by it,” Chief Sizer said as she announced that Officer Humphreys had been placed on paid administrative leave. Sizer said the Internal Affairs Division would conduct an immediate and full investigation into whether the use of force was justified.

“The actions I witnessed on the video are not consistent with my expectations and what I believe are the community’s expectations for a Portland police Officer,” said Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman.

A Portland Police Union spokesperson reacted angrily to the decision, saying the Police Chief and Commissioner were treating Humphreys unfairly.

Officer investigated in Chasse death

Humphreys was cleared of any wrongdoing in the 2006 death of 42-year-old James Chasse.

Chasse was tackled by officers in Old Town and taken to jail. He later died on the way to a hospital.

In August, 2009, the Multnomah County Commission voted to pay the family of James Chasse $925,000 as a settlement to a civil lawsuit filed over the mentally ill man’s death.

The county decided not to pursue criminal charges against Officer Humphrey in the case.

Earlier In November, Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman recently recommended Humphreys be suspended for his role in the incident.

Officers were responding to large party

Investigators said just before 11 p.m. Saturday, Dauchy and Humphreys were called to a large party at 162nd and Northeast Halsey. Sizer said the party was attended by groups of suspected gang members. A gun had also been recovered from some brush in the area, officers said. Police said between 75 and 100 teens were leaving the party.

One group went to a nearby bus stop and were angrily shouting about wanting to fight. Portland and Gresham officers said as soon as police arrive the groupo began to disband.

According to Sizer, Dauchy saw a girl who he knew had been excluded from riding the MAX as part of a group of teens that got on a train at the stop on 162nd.

When the train pulled in to the stop at 148th, police said Dauchy saw another boy he knew was on the TriMet exclusion list and took him into custody.

Investigators said as he began to take the 12-year-old girl into custody, she hit him in the face and resisted arrest.

Police said officers repeated warnings to her to stop resisting or she would be hit with a beanbag gun, Officer Humphreys fired the weapon at her thigh at close range. Investigators said “she became compliant and the officers began to take her into custody when she began to resist again.”

Another officer arrived and they were able to handcuff her, and medics were told she had a bruised thigh but did not need to be taken to the hospital.

The girl was charged with assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and interfering with public transportation.

“I believe it is the best interest of the community and the members of the Portland Police Bureau to quickly act and investigate this fully. I ask the community and the media to remember that there is a juvenile involved and therefore, we are being very careful in providing the public records protection regarding her identity that is afforded to juveniles,” said Chief Sizer.

Police said they were in contact with the girl’s mother.

From the Portland Mercury, November 19, 2009

Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman has overruled Police Chief Rosie Sizer and ordered the suspension of Portland Police Officer Christopher Humphreys, after he shot a 12-year-old girl in the leg with a “less-lethal” beanbag round on Saturday night.

The action has outraged the Portland Police Association, whose president, Scott Westerman, stood in front of 37 fellow cops outside the Justice Center on SW 2nd, to protest against Saltzman for “trying to be the police chief.”

“When the Police Association first heard about this, the idea was to remove Officer Humphreys from the street, but Saltzman overrode that,” Westerman told the media this afternoon. “With no police experience, he overrode a 25-year bureau veteran and ordered the suspension of Officer Humphreys.”

WESTERMAN: OUTRAGED ON BEHALF OF THE POLICE UNION

Saltzman has declined comment on the move, personally, instead, leaving Police Chief Rosie Sizer to read from a written statement on the 15th floor of the police bureau this afternoon. Sizer also released video of the incident to reporters.

Sizer issued the following statement:

“After reviewing the video, I am troubled by it. Officer Humphreys has been placed on administrative leave and I have directed the Internal Affairs Division to conduct an immediate and full investigation into whether the use of force was justified under the totality of circumstances and whether the application of the beanbag at close range was consistent with the bureau’s training.”

Saltzman issued the following statement:

“The actions I witnessed on the video are not consistent with my expectations and what I believe are the community’s expectations for a Portland Police Officer. I directed that Officer Humphreys be immediately removed from the street and placed on administrative leave.”

Humphreys, along with Sergeant Kyle Nice and Officer Bret Burton, was one of the officers involved in the 2006 death in police custody of James Chasse, a man with schizophrenia. A lawsuit is ongoing in that case, and Chasse’s attorney, Tom Steenson, was present at the press conference as an observer this afternoon. He declined comment, but his law firm also announced its intention to sue Humphreys again earlier this year, following his alleged assault of a mentally ill woman at a Gresham MAX stop.

Sizer told the press that on Saturday night, November 14, Officer Aaron Duchy and Officer Humphreys responded to a call to assist with a large party that had just broken up involving several known gang members. Information provided to officers stated that a gun had just been recovered in bushes near the party and that 75-100 male and female teens were walking in the area of 162nd and Northeast Halsey.

The chief continued:

“Several teens went to a nearby bus stop and were angrily shouting about wanting to fight. Portland Police and Gresham Police Officers began to follow the groups to ensure they disbanded without violence. Officers Dauchy and Humphreys arrived at the MAX platform on 162nd and observed about 20-30 teens board a westbound MAX. Officer Dauchy recognized a juvenile female whom he knew to be excluded from MAX.”

Police officers on the steps of the justice center later told me that the girl had been excluded for “stealing a purse,” earlier. The chief continued:

“The officers followed the train to 148th, and went on to the MAX platform. They were the only officers on scene at that point, as other officers were responding to fight calls in the area of 162nd. As the train pulled in, Officer Dauchy recognized a juvenile male whom he also knew to be on the TriMet exclusion list. After placing the male in handcuffs, Officer Duchy called to the excluded juvenile female to also get off the train. As he began to take her into custody, she swung at him, striking him in the face and began aggressively resisting. Officer Dauchy told the female to stop resisting and he continued to struggle with her.”

“After giving repeated warnings to stop resisting or he would shoot a beanbag gun, Officer Humphreys deployed the beanbag gun to the female’s thigh at close range. She became compliant and the officers began to take her into custody when she began to resist again. Another officer arrived and the officers were able to handcuff her. Medical personnel were called and advised officers that the girl had a bruise on her thigh and did not need to be medically transported. Both juveniles were taken to the Transit Police Division for further processing and then to JDH.”

Westerman repeatedly stressed that Humphreys had shot a “170 pound person,” during his press conference in response to Sizer’s, outside the Justice Center.

Humphreys had “quickly, effectively ended a violent confrontation,” said Westerman. “This is exactly what the citizens of Portland expect police officers to do.”

Westerman was asked whether he thought Saltzman’s decision to discipline Humphreys was “political.”

“I have absolutely no doubt that the Commissioner and the Chief’s actions are as a result of the conflict at city hall,” said Westerman—City Commissioner Randy Leonard recently called Police Commissioner Saltzman a “parrot for the police chief” after he gave just two weeks off to Officers Humphreys and Nice over the Chasse incident.

“The police union can no longer tell its officers that politics do not play a part in discipline,” Westerman said. “Officer Humphreys’ action was appropriate, justified, warranted, and necessary.”

Are there any rules about shooting 12-year-olds, or shooting people with beanbag guns at close range?

“Not in the torso, but the extremities are fair game,” said Westerman. “There are no restrictions on children when a person is inflicting injury on the officer.”

Police oversight advocates are pleased with the decision.

“The people give great power to the police, the power to use force, and the people also reserve the right to revoke that power use absolutely, without argument, and at any time,” said Jason Renaud, with the Mental Health Association of Portland—an outspoken critic of Saltzman’s response to the Chasse incident, so far. “I’m glad to see the chief is acting quickly.”

“We’ve been worried about this man for three years, and we don’t think he should be a police officer,” Renaud continued, referring to Humphreys.

“Why did it take two officers wrestling with a 12-year-old girl and a third one circling her with his shotgun to take her into custody?” asks Portland Copwatch activist Dan Handleman, who has been concerned about so-called “beanbag guns” for several years.

“These aren’t beanbag guns, these are lead-pellet bag guns,” he says. “They’re filled with the pellets that you would put into a shotgun shell, except they are wrapped in a Nylon sack. Being hit by one is like being hit by a line-drive baseball at 90 miles an hour. It’s not like sitting in a beanbag chair.”

“Humphreys has several high profile use of force incidents that have been controversial,” says Handelman. “This latest incident has only occurred because of the police bureau’s failure to adequately discipline any officer that repeatedly uses excessive force.”

“Given the totality of the circumstances, Officer Humphreys should not be a police officer,” Handelman concludes.

The District Attorney’s office is prosecuting the 12 year-old girl for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and interfering with public transportation.

Meanwhile, it’s unlikely that they will be disciplined for it, but Westerman’s fellow officers may have violated police bureau directives about appearing on media and in their uniform on the Justice Center steps this afternoon. There’s also a question about the political criticism of Saltzman, who is up for re-election next year. From the cops’ rule book:

Saltzman is due to speak to the community this evening at a two-hour community event at Jefferson High School, along with Senator Chip Shields, Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen, and State Representative Lew Frederick.

Update, 8:56pm:

“It’s not political,” says Police Commissioner Saltzman, in response to the Police Union’s accusations. “It’s based on what I saw on the video tape, and what I understand about policies and training, and procedure. There’ll be an investigation, and then we’ll determine if there’s going to be discipline.”

Saltzman made his comments to the Mercury after addressing a community audience at Jefferson High School this evening, on public safety. Asked by one audience member at the meeting whether he might support drug testing for officers after controversial use of force incidents, Saltzman said he “didn’t know about that.” State Senator Chip Shields said “such decisions are best left to bargaining units,” meaning the city, and the police union, in the upcoming negotiations between the police union and the city—due to begin in 2010.