Mental Health Association of Portland

From the Salem Statesman Journal, August 9, 2010

A police training review found a Portland officer’s actions were “inconsistent” with his training when he chased and knocked down a mentally ill man who then died in police custody in 2006, according to internal police documents obtained by The Oregonian.

The review found Officer Chris Humphreys never should have chased James P. Chasse or knocked him to the ground. It said there was no evidence Chasse committed a crime or was a danger to himself or others.

Chasse suffered broken ribs that punctured his lung and led to his death in September 2006.

The documents show Humphreys was never disciplined for those actions, the newspaper reported. The documents had been under court-ordered seal but were released last month after the city council approved a $1.6 million settlement to Chasse’s family.

The new documents for the first time show the bureau’s own Training Division determined Humphreys’ action that day weren’t in line with bureau procedures.

“Although the belief that Mr. Chasse had urinated in public may be reason enough to contact him on the street, initiating the foot pursuit and deploying the knock-down technique, based on the above information, is inconsistent with the Training Division’s Tactical Doctrine,” the training review said.

Tom Steenson, attorney for the Chasse family, said the training review would have been key to their case had it gone to trial.

“How that all got swept under the rug hasn’t been explained,” Steenson said.

Records show the officer’s supervisor dismissed much of the analysis by the Portland Police Bureau’s Training Division.

Then-Transit Division Cmdr. Donna Henderson defended her officers’ actions in her own review. She wrote that Humphreys reasonably believed a crime was committed, citing “indecent exposure,” and thought Chasse was either drunk or on drugs.

Her report “apparently trumped” the training analysis before a Use of Force Review Board evaluating the officer’s actions, city-hired consultants reported.

Humphreys told detectives he believed Chasse had urinated in public, possibly had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, possibly possessed illegal drugs, might have been armed, and ran from police with a look of “sheer terror.”

The Training Division review found those observations did not warrant a foot chase.

Lynnae Berg, then an assistant chief, partly disagreed with the Training Division. She found in her own review that there was probable cause to stop Chasse for urinating in public, but she found the use of the knockdown technique “to be inconsistent with training and out of policy.”

The Use of Force Review Board found the foot pursuit and knockdown of Chasse were within policy.

Humphreys, who is now on disability leave, did not appear before the Use of Force Review Board examining Chasse’s death. He submitted a statement saying he didn’t attend for “the health and welfare of my family.”
He called the case a tragic accident.

“We have all heard the rhetoric — ’a failed mental health system, failed medical response, failed police training.’ Whatever may be, please, I ask only that you look at this situation with an objective eye,” he wrote.

READ – Documents Show Chasse Cops Acted Improperly, Portland Mercury, August 8, 2010

Twenty-two new documents were released to the media on August 8, 2010 from discovery for Chasse v Humphreys et al, settled by the City of Portland for $1.6 million dollars on about July 28. More will be released soon.

The 22 documents are listed below. Each are non-searchable PDF documents.

Portland Police Training Division’s Review of James P. Chasse Jr.’s death in custody, no date

Police training material on Foot Pursuits at the time of Chasse’s death in September 2006, no date

Then-Transit Division Commander Donna Henderson’s analysis of Christopher Humphreys & Kyle Nice’s actions against James Chasse, August 28, 2008

Then-Assistant Chief Lynnae Berg’s recommendation of discipline for Christopher Humphreys, September 15, 2008

Officer Christopher Humphreys’ personal statement to the police Use of Force Review Board, no date

Officer Christopher Humphreys’ discipline letter, February 2, 2010

Sgt. Kyle Nice’s discipline letter, February 2, 2010

Depositions of civilians who witnessed police struggle with James P. Chasse Jr. and take him into custody on Sept. 17, 2006

Elizabeth Anderson – eyewitness
Jesse Barber – eyewitness
Barry Benard – eyewitness
Tony Carter – eyewitness
Constance Doolan – eyewitness
Melissa Gaylord – eyewitness
Mark Ginsberg – eyewitness
Erin Glanz – eyewitness
David Lillegaard – eyewitness
Diane Loghry – eyewitness
Jamie Marquez – eyewitness
Alireza Soltani – eyewitness
Randall Stuart – eyewitness
Mary Jean Wickemeier – eyewitness
Homer Williams – eyewitness

READ – New documents in the James P. Chasse Jr. case, The Oregonian, August 8, 2010
READ – Everything about James Chasse

From The Oregonian, July 28, 2010

The newly-elected Portland police union president released a statement this afternoon, citing his association’s support for the officers involved in the death-in-custody case of James P. Chasse Jr.

“The officers and supervisors who responded to the incident followed their Portland Police Bureau training according to the policies and procedures at that time. Since then, Bureau policies have changed, attempting to adapt to law enforcement’s changing role in society,” wrote Officer Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association. “The PPA will continue to support Officers Chris Humphreys and Bret Burton, and Sergeant Kyle Nice. We will work to vindicate their names, careers and integrity.”

The statement was released a day after the City Council voted 4 to 0 to pay $1.6 million to settle the Chasse family’s federal wrongful death lawsuit against the city.

The union’s full statement is below:

“Since 2006, the Portland Police Association has seen the death of James Chasse as a tragic accident. His family was devastated and the lives of the officers involved have been changed forever.

We look forward to participating with the community and the City to find innovative and appropriate solutions to better protect and care for our mentally ill citizens.”

READ – Solutions to Chasse tragedy lie outside law enforcement, Portland Police Association press release, July 29, 2010

From The Oregonian, July 29, 2010

Outside consultants shared with the Portland City Council Wednesday night the gaps and unasked questions in the police investigation of James P. Chasse Jr.’s death in custody, hours after the council approved a settlement of $1.6 million, the city’s largest, in a federal suit.

Police Chief Mike Reese apologized for Chasse’s death and said officers must do their jobs in a “more thoughtful and collaborative manner” with outside agencies. He called the three-year delay in the Police Bureau’s internal review “completely unacceptable.”

“We cannot change the outcome of what happened Sept. 17, 2006,” Reese said. “I’m very sorry for this tragic event and for the suffering that it caused.”

The chief said he agreed with the majority of the 27 recommendations offered by the California-based OIR Group and hoped they would help mend the rift between the bureau and the community.

Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade ordered that report. It recommended a range of reforms, among them requiring police to conduct face-to-face interviews with civilian witnesses and sending internal affairs investigators out to a scene immediately.

But the attorney who brought the wrongful-death lawsuit against the city for Chasse’s family said the consultants’ report got facts wrong and overlooked the bureau’s systemic failure to hold its officers and supervisors accountable.

Attorney Tom Steenson said the facts of the case were that officers who were involved in Chasse’s death changed their accounts of what occurred during the inquiry. They were not upfront with medical personnel about their use of force, they falsely suggested bread crumbs that Chasse dropped were cocaine when he had no drugs on him, and they lied to witnesses about Chasse’s past.

“There has been a consistent and repeated effort, conscious or otherwise, resulting in a failure to discipline officers,” Steenson said. “As a result, I believe they can act in impunity in the use of excessive force and can lie about it and attempt to cover it up.”

Other community members agreed, saying they were disappointed there’s been no serious accountability for the three officers who confronted Chasse. Officer Chris Humphreys and Sgt. Kyle Nice received two-week unpaid suspensions. Bret Burton, a Multnomah County sheriff’s deputy at the time, was not disciplined and has since been hired by Portland police.

Community members also disputed police suggestions that Chasse’s death marked a failure of the mental health system.

“In almost four years of review, no police officers were held accountable. No indictment, no crime, no personal accountability … ,” said Jason Renaud, a volunteer with the Mental Health Association of Portland who knew Chasse.

“Until you have the powers to act publicly and decisively in response to a critical incident, you cannot give assurance what happened to James Chasse will not happen again,” Renaud said. “What happened to James Chasse was not a failure of the system, of the institution, of the city. It was an unforgivable failure of three individual officers.”

Earlier Wednesday, city commissioners approved the $1.6 million settlement to Chasse’s family by a 4-0 vote. The agreement had been announced in May. Commissioner Dan Saltzman was not present. Mayor Sam Adams, ill at home with strep throat, voted by phone; he also participated by phone in Wednesday evening’s session.

On Sept. 17, 2006, police thought Chasse, 42, who had schizophrenia, might have urinated in the street in the Pearl District and tried to stop him. They chased him and knocked him to the ground, then wrestled with him to arrest him.

Multnomah County jail staff refused to book him because of his medical condition. He died in police custody en route to a hospital.

An autopsy found he died of broad-based blunt-force trauma to the chest. He suffered 26 breaks to 16 ribs, some of which punctured his left lung.

The consultants said the three-year pace of the internal investigation was a “letdown” to the community. They found Multnomah County refused to allow its employees to be interviewed by internal affairs investigators until after they were deposed in the civil suit. Also, AMR ambulance staff refused to speak to homicide detectives until they faced grand jury subpoenas.

The report indicated that command staff steered internal affairs investigators away from looking into allegations that officers at the scene misinformed a witness by falsely claiming Chasse had 14 drug convictions. Also, the inquiry never delved into the apparent lack of supervision of the officers by then-Transit Cmdr. Donna Henderson.

Derald Walker, chief executive officer of Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, stunned observers when he told the council that Henderson is now on the agency’s board of directors.

“I’m sort of surprised the commander of Transit (then) is now on the board of Cascadia. There’s some irony there,” said Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch.

Consultants also found investigators failed to question why officers carried Chasse in maximum restraints to a car, which exacerbated his injuries, and kept him there while they did paperwork across the street from jail before booking him.

Chasse’s family released a statement Wednesday, saying their decision to settle the case was not easy. However, they felt there was little to gain by going to trial, even though their lawyers advised them against the city’s final offer.

“We are relieved that the case has settled, but it is a very rough form of justice: the truth is that a civil suit seems to be the only form of justice that our local system will allow when police are involved in a killing,” their statement said.

They ended their statement with a tribute to Chasse, a “painfully shy” man who preferred comic books about superheroes over talking.

“James, may you rest in peace. We love you and miss you.”

From EnzymePDX, July 28th, 2010

The Portland City Council voted 4-0 early Wednesday to approve a $1.6 million settlement in the wrongful death civil suit filed by the estate of a mentally ill man who died while in police custody in 2006 after being arrested in the Pearl District.

The suit in the death of James Chasse Jr., 42, was negotiated in May. Approval of the settlement, the largest in the city’s history, came just hours before a 6 p.m. City Council meeting at which commissioners heard a report from City Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade about the Chasse case.

The auditor’s report, prepared by a California consulting group, found serious flaws in police procedures during Chasse’s arrest and during an internal investigation in the three year after the his death.

The auditor’s report is unusual in that it was prepared by the Los Angeles County Office of Internal Review. The OIR is composed of lawyers who ensure that allegations of misconduct against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are thoroughly investigated. The OIR has examined investigations of five police-involved shootings and in-custody deaths since 2002.

Asked if [Tom] Steenson’s assessment of PPB was accurate, Police Chief Mike Reese replied: “I can’t say. I don’t think so.”

OIR chief attorney Michael Gennaco was asked if cases in which people died in police custody have led to the disciplining of police. “Most cities don’t even investigate these things,” he said. “Many cities have a school of thought that you cannot second-guess the judgment of an officer at moments like this. Portland is a place that doesn’t have that school of thought. It’s remarkable that they don’t.”

[Dan] Saltzman, who was police commissioner during much of the Chasse aftermath, was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon, but Shannon Callahan, Saltzman’s police adviser during his tenure as police commissioner said, “We basically got handed the case after Mayor Tom Potter left.”

During that period Saltzman’s office got a good look at how the bureau and the city conducted the investigation. They didn’t like what they saw. Saltzman pushed for harsher punishment for Officers Kyle Nice and Christopher Humphreys and to get systematic changes in place to improve communications between police and EMS workers, but much of the process was frustrated by a gag order placed on the investigation.

“The city attorney placed a blanket gag order over the entire case,” said Callahan. “It was an untenable situation not being able to talk about the case at all. There was disinformation and bad information and information that the public still hasn’t seen. Dan was fighting for transparency the whole time he had the commission.”

[Sam] Adams pulled the police bureau from Saltzman in May, the day after the Chasse settlement was agreed on.

READ – Report to the City of Portland Concerning the In-Custody Death of James Chasse

Testimony presented to the Portland City Council, July 28 in response to the OIR Report to the City
of Portland Concerning the In-Custody Death of James Chasse

From the Mental Health Association of Portland – www.mentalhealthportland.org

+++

In general, the Mental Health Association of Portland supports and appreciates this report on what happened to James Chasse. It’s what we expect from a diligent police commissioner in response to a critical incident.

The OIR report has a tiny, potent argument, designed to defuse criticism surrounding the brutal death of James Chasse.

The argument is this, “it must be recognized that the Portland Police Bureau of 2010 is not the Portland Police Bureau of 2006.”

Nice rhetoric, perhaps meant to illuminate the wound to bureaucracy, but entirely superficial to the interest of justice. The interest of justice remains fixed on September 16, 2006.

In review, police officers were not held accountable. No indictment, no crime, no personal accountability. The mayor, the police commissioner, the police chief were irrelevant, without powers, without the ability to act.

Almost four years and no one has been held accountable for the brutal death of James Chasse. No human being. No person. No person who was directly responsible for his death. No person who tackled him, kicked him, punched him, Tasered him. No person named Kyle Nice. No person named Bret Burton. No person named Christopher Humphreys.

No persons.

Until you have the powers to act publicly and decisively in response to a critical incident – you cannot give assurance what happened to James Chasse will not happen again.

Understand this – James Chasse had a mental illness. That’s why our organization has followed this case for over three years. But Jim did not die from his mental illness. It played no part in his death. To blame him, to blame his illness, to blame the mental health system for his death is intentionally misleading.

What happened to James Chasse was not a failure of the system, of the institution, of the city. It was an unforgivable failure of three individual officers. You’ve tried to shoulder some of this burden, because of a police contract, concern over a civil lawsuit, because of your personal uneasiness with authority, because of the antagonistic relationship between the police and civilian oversight. But it’s not a burden to be shouldered – it’s a stain.

What Humphreys, Burton and Nice did is unforgivable. They will never be trusted as police officers. Their colleagues who work with them are all stained. When you speak to their right to privacy, to a career, when you represent them legally, you are stained.

The task of a politician is to give a human voice to law, to policy and procedure, to speak to the community about the actions of the city. You and your predecessors were ill-advised to be silent. That duration of silence eroded trust and confidence. That seems to be changing – and accepting the recommendations of the Report to the City of Portland Concerning the In-Custody Death of James Chasse is really your first step forward.

Column by Steve Duin, from The Oregonian, May 12, 2010

On his 497th day spent cowering in the mayor’s office, Sam Adams finally took command of the place Wednesday, cashiering Police Chief Rosie Sizer and taking control of her “demonized” police bureau.

Still steamed about Sizer’s public criticism of his 2010-11 budget, Adams kicked her to the curb. That petulant but long overdue smackdown capped an eventful week in which the city finally settled the James Chasse Jr. case, the lasting epitaph on Sizer’s 49 months in the penthouse suite of the Justice Center.

To the bitter end, Sizer acted as if the cops were the real victims in the brutal death of Chasse, pile-driven to the sidewalk by Portland’s finest. She was so cavalier about the interminable delays in the internal affairs investigation into Chasse’s death — “Absolutely intolerable,” Adams said — that the citizenry’s anger was still mounting when the $1.6 million settlement was announced.

But Sizer was cavalier and defensive about so many things. The police, she argued in February, couldn’t be blamed for the Aaron Campbell shooting, not when the city refused to fund a regional training center so the cops could target unarmed suspects in a “realistic setting.”

The bureau’s resident thugs, Officer Chris Humphreys and Sgt. Kyle Nice, shouldn’t be “demonized” or disciplined for that “horrible accident” in the Pearl District, Sizer insisted, no matter what her boss, Commissioner Dan Saltzman, said.

And Sizer was so unimpressed — or unintimidated — by Adams’ power and privilege that she marched out of budget negotiations and into a news conference Monday to announce that the mayor’s proposed budget would sideline 25 police officers.

“That,” Adams said, “was a moment of supreme frustration,” and the final insult for the mayor. While serving as Vera Katz’s chief of staff, Adams learned the importance of working the building and the bureau heads until he could take a balanced budget out for public display.

He was convinced that both Sizer and Saltzman had signed off on the Police Bureau budget, and he considered the press conference obnoxious and insubordinate.

With a decisiveness we haven’t seen since we were introduced to Beau Breedlove, Adams chopped them both off at the knees, booting Sizer two months before her planned retirement and stripping Saltzman of the bureau at the end of his re-election campaign.

Adams would not own up to unnecessary petulance or vindictiveness. Too many of the positive changes in the bureau on Sizer and Saltzman’s watch, he said, have been “in response to crisis, to failure. I want there to be a cultural change. There are wide swaths of our community that look to the Police Bureau in fear, not in safety.

“I thought it was time to be more proactive.”

You think? On Day 497 on the job?

Adams said he conferred with no other commissioner before offering the chief’s job to Mike Reese, who would seem married to the very culture Adams wants to change.

It was Reese, after all, who transferred Officer Tom Brennan to the property evidence warehouse after Brennan complained about the street tactics of Kyle Nice. Brennan filed a tort claim against the city in January, claiming the bureau was retaliating for his speaking out.

Asked about Reese’s selection, Adams said, “For the Police Bureau, this has been a rough two or three years. I had to weigh stability over inclusion.”

Adams waited far too long to take command of the bureau, jettison Sizer and remember who won the 2008 election. That he finally has suggests Adams trusts he has put scandal behind him, but it is no guarantee of stability ahead.

PRESS RELEASE – May 11, 2010
From: Tom Steenson of Steenson, Schumann, Tewksbury, Creighton & Rose
Re: Tentative Settlement of Chasse v. Humphreys, et al.

The family of James P. Chasse, Jr., is confirming the information contained in various media reports that a tentative settlement has been reached with the City in their case against Portland Police Officer Christopher Humphreys, Portland Police Sergeant Kyle Nice, and other City defendants, arising out of James’ tragic death, on September 17, 2006.

If you will recall, in late 2006 and early 2007, the family undertook their own investigation looking for the truth as to what the police did to James and why he died. In order to get access to necessary information which was not deemed public, they filed their lawsuit in February, 2007. During the course of the lawsuit, the family’s attorneys took over 75 depositions of witnesses, Portland Police Bureau employees, and others, obtained over 40,000 pages of documents, retained a police expert and spoke with countless other individuals to assist the family in evaluating what caused James’ death on September 17th.

During the case, the City and the other defendants sought a protective order which the family and the media opposed. Once the order was entered, the family repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought to vacate the order in the interest of allowing the public access to information which was subject to the protective order. As a result of the protective order and other considerations in the case, the family has not been able to share much of the information they have gathered during the litigation, including important training information and information about the City’s internal investigations into James’ death.

As part of the tentative settlement of the case, the family insisted upon and the City has agreed to vacate the protective order as it applies to training information relevant to James’ death, the City’s internal investigations into James’ death and any resulting reports or discipline. The family is in the process of organizing the information as part of a full release of it to the public and hopes to have it available soon. The family is hopeful that by sharing this information and telling the true story of what caused James’ death, they will be able to help the public in its quest for a more open and accountable Portland Police Bureau.

The family will be issuing a statement which will more directly comment on the tentative settlement once it is finalized. All that they can say about the additional details of the settlement at this time is that James would have wanted the truth to come out by settling the case now. Lastly, the family wants to thank the community for the tremendous support it has provided the family over the past 3 and ½ years and to encourage the community to be ever vigilant in monitoring the Portland Police Bureau to ensure that it actually serves and protects us.

From KPTV.com, May 11, 2010

The family of a mentally ill man who died in police custody has settled a lawsuit against the city of Portland for $1.6 million just weeks before the case was scheduled for trial.

City Commissioner Dan Saltzman publicly apologized to the family of James Chasse Jr. at City Hall during a news conference Tuesday to announce the tentative settlement, which still must be approved by the City Council.

“Although nothing can ever make up for the loss of Mr. Chasse’s life, his death has led us all to take a serious look at the way we as a community treat the mentally ill,” Saltzman said. “I think nobody would win by this going to trial. And certainly, the city’s image probably would be tarnished.”

Mayor Sam Adams said in a statement the tentative settlement “brings to a close a very troubling chapter in the relationship between the Portland Police Bureau and the residents of this great city.”

“The Chasse family has had to endure a very public examination of what is, at the end of the day, a very personal matter – the death of a loved one and the ability to know the facts, grieve the loss, and begin to move on,” Adams said.

Chasse, 42, who suffered from schizophrenia, died in September 2006 after he was tackled by police officers who chased him for allegedly urinating in public. He was also shot with a stun gun.

Chasse suffered 16 broken ribs and a punctured lung that led to his death while officers were taking him to a hospital in a patrol car.

Officers first took him to the Multnomah County jail but a nurse told them Chasse could not be booked in his condition.

Police Chief Rosie Sizer said she’s relieved by the ruling in James Chasse Jr.’s death, but felt “the individual officers have been unfairly demonized.”

“I believe that the Chasse family deserves compensation for their loss. I hope that James Chasse’s family also takes some comfort in the changes that the Portland Police has made,” Sizer said in a statement. “James Chasse’s death was a horrible accident and not a ‘beating death.’”

In a statement released on behalf of the Chasse family by their attorney, Tom Steenson, the family said the city agreed as part of the settlement to release documents that had been sealed during the lawsuit, including an internal affairs report.

The family said their attorneys took more than 75 depositions from witnesses, police and others, and obtained over 40,000 pages of documents.

“The family is hopeful that by sharing this information and telling the true story of what caused James’ death, they will be able to help the public in its quest for a more open and accountable Portland Police Bureau,” the statement said.

The family settled for $925,000 with Multnomah County for a sheriff’s deputy’s involvement in the death and for a reported $600,000 with American Medical Response Northwest Inc., the ambulance company that responded to the scene of the arrest.

For the $1.6 million payout, the city is self-insured for $1 million and a secondary insurance company will pay the other $600,000, Saltzman said.

Saltzman, who oversees the police bureau, had recommended last November that Sgt. Kyle Nice and Officer Christopher Humphreys be suspended for two weeks for their role in the death.

He said Tuesday that disciplinary action against both officers was complete.

The city also plans to release documents that had been sealed during the lawsuit, including an internal affairs report.

Deputy City Attorney Jim Rice said he and the attorney for the Chasse family, Tom Steenson, were working out the final release and any disagreements would be handled by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken as mediator.

City Attorney Linda Meng said it was the largest settlement for a lawsuit of its kind in her memory.

Saltzman said the settlement would come from the city’s insurance and not from its general fund. Both sides wanted to avoid a trial, he said.

Saltzman noted the police bureau has made a number of changes in its policy on the use of force and dealing with the mentally ill, including 40 hours of crisis intervention training for all officers.

When asked why it took more than three years to resolve the case, Saltzman said that would be determined by an independent review being led by City Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade.

The federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Chasse’s family accused Portland police officers of excessive force and denying Chasse appropriate medical attention.

U.S. District Judge Garr M. King denied a city request for a change of venue in February. The case had been set for trial in June.

From the The Oregonian, May 11, 2010

Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman issued an apology this afternoon to the family of James P. Chasse Jr. as he announced the $1.6 million settlement the city reached with the Chasse family in their federal wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit against Portland police.

Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman and deputy city attorney Jim Rice hold a press conference

The city of Portland and the Chasse family reached the deal — the largest settlement of a tort claim in the city’s history — about 4 p.m. Monday after a full day of negotiations with U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken mediating. It still must be approved by the City Council, possibly as early as next Wednesday.

“I believe this proposal to be in the best interest of our city and community,” Saltzman said, speaking in the atrium of City Hall. “I would like to express my deepest apology on behalf of the city to the Chasse family for the loss of their son and brother.”

Saltzman said both sides wanted to avoid a trial, and acknowledged that had the case gone to trial in U.S. District Court, “probably the city’s image would be tarnished.”

Under the terms of the settlement, the city is expected to release the Portland police internal affairs investigative report and its training division’s examination of the Sept. 17, 2006, death in-custody case.

Both documents had been part of a court protective order while the lawsuit was pending. Saltzman said the documents would be released “soon,” noting that certain personal information has to be redacted before their release.

“I believe the public needs to see and fully understand the events leading up to Chasse’s death,” Saltzman said.

Tom Steenson, the Chasse family attorney, said the family is hopeful that sharing the police investigative reports and training documents from the Chasse case will “help the public in its quest for a more open and accountable Portland Police Bureau.”

The family believed that James Chasse Jr. “would have wanted the truth to come out by settling the case now” and thanked the community for supporting the family over the past 3 1/2 years, according to a statement Steenson released today.

Police Chief Rosie Sizer, in a prepared statement, said she was “relieved” by the settlement.

“And I believe that the Chasse family deserves compensation for their loss,” Sizer wrote. “I hope that James Chasse’s family also takes some comfort in the changes that the Portland police has made.”

But Sizer, who said she felt frustrated by not being able to publicly address the death-in-custody case because of the pending litigation, said today that she believes the police bureau and officers involved “have been unfairly demonized.” She called Chasse’s death a “horrible accident and not a ‘beating death,’ as Chasse’s family lawyer has argued.

Saltzman said he hopes with the settlement that the city can “begin to heal from the tragic death” of Chasse. He said the case pushed the city and county to look at how to improve services to the mentally ill, and the police bureau to improve its medical transport policy and extend crisis intervention training to all officers.

The city’s self-insurer will cover the initial $1 million, and its secondary insurance carrier will cover the remainder. None of the settlement award will come from the general fund, Saltzman said.

City Attorney Linda Meng said the city has spent more than $1 million in labor, and about $220,000 in external costs, such as paying for experts, travel, and depositions.

In a document filed in court Monday, U.S. District Court clerk Mary L. Moran filed an “order of dismissal” in the case.

The excessive force and wrongful death case involving Chasse, a 42-year-old who suffered from schizophrenia, was scheduled to go to trial next month before U.S. District Judge Garr King.

Two other defendants, Multnomah County and ambulance company American Medical Response Northwest Inc., previously settled with the family.

The county settled last summer for $925,000, removing the county and its employees as defendants. The employees included deputy Bret Burton, now a Portland police officer, who was involved in the initial struggle with Chasse and jail nurses who were accused of failing to examine or treat Chasse or call an ambulance.

AMR settled its part of the case last December for a reported $600,000. Its paramedics were accused of failing to follow their own procedures and protocols in dealing with patients who have trauma or are in altered mental states.

An April filing by the Chasse family said the city had not made an independent offer to settle since October 2007.

In addition, the city had insisted that any settlement would aim to keep secret the investigations into Chasse’s death and related training issues, family attorney Tom Steenson wrote.

The city had said in an earlier filing that the Chasse family had “declined reasonable efforts to settle.”

The original incident began when officers, including Sgt. Kyle Nice and Officer Chris Humphreys, chased Chasse down, believing he had urinated in the street. Officers knocked him to the ground at Northwest Everett Street and 13th Avenue, and struggled to handcuff him.

AMR paramedics were called to the scene but said his vital signs were normal.

Chasse was taken to the Multnomah County Detention Center and appeared to suffer a seizure while in a holding cell. The jail nurse said the jail would not book him.

Police then decided to take him to a hospital. He died in the back of the patrol car.

An autopsy revealed that Chasse died of broad-based blunt-force trauma to the chest. Among the injuries, he had 26 breaks to 16 ribs, some of which punctured a lung.

Asked today if the city still believes Chasse died of excited delirium, as city court papers had suggested, Saltzman deflected the question. “I think the point is we’re not going to trial.”

In response to a question about the Chasse family’s allegation that the officers tried to cover up an assault of Chasse by suggesting they found cocaine on Chasse, Deputy City Attorney Jim Rice said, “I don’t think there’s any cover up shown in this case.”

When asked where the mayor was, Saltzman looked from side to side, and quipped, “I don’t know.”

Later, Mayor Sam Adams released a prepared statement, saying the settlement closes a “very troubling chapter” in the relationship between the Police Bureau and the residents of the city.

“The Chasse family has had to endure a very public examination of what is, at the end of the day, a very personal matter – the death of a loved one and the ability to know the facts, grieve the loss, and begin to move on. Likewise, the Portland Police Bureau has operated under increased scrutiny, especially in cases involving mental illness. And while there have been positive developments in how the police manage issues of use of force and medical transport, we need to be more proactive in making additional improvements, ” the mayor said.

Steenson attended the City Hall news conference. At the end, as he walked off, Saltzman told him, “I appreciate the settlement.”

From the Willamette Week, May 11, 2010

Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman this afternoon apologized to the family of James Chasse Jr. after the city reached a $1.6 million settlement in a lawsuit over Chasse’s 2006 death in police custody.

“I believe this proposed settlement to be in the best interests of our city and our community, and it’s my hope that by settling this case, we can begin to heal from the tragic death of Mr. Chasse,” Saltzman said.

“Although nothing could ever make up for the loss of his tragic life, his death has led us all to take a serious look at the way we as a community treat the mentally ill,” added Saltzman, who is running for re-election on the May 18 ballot. “It has prompted the Portland Police Bureau to examine and improve many of its policies.”

Saltzman said he and Chief Rosie Sizer —who said today in a news release she was “relieved” by the settlement— attended a settlement conference Monday at federal court, where U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken negotiated the agreement.

Saltzman said as part of the agreement, the city will release documents from police internal investigations of Chasse’s death. Those documents have been under seal in court pending the civil trial, which was scheduled to begin next month.

Saltzman said some personal information must be redacted from the documents. He said that paperwork will be available “soon but not immediately.”

Saltzman said there were no other stipulations made as part of the settlement agreement, which still must be approved by the City Council. Saltzman said a vote could happen as early as next week. And Mayor Sam Adams said today in a news release that he is confident the council will approve the settlement.

City Attorney Linda Meng said the$1.6 million payout would be the biggest tort-claim settlement in city history. Records provided to WW by the city show Portland has paid out $3.8 million $4.8 million since 1995 to settle claims of excessive force by police.

UPDATE with comment from Chasse family:

The family of James P. Chasse, Jr., is confirming the information contained in various media reports that a tentative settlement has been reached with the City in their case against Portland Police Officer Christopher Humphreys, Portland Police Sergeant Kyle Nice, and other City defendants, arising out of James’ tragic death, on September 17, 2006.

If you will recall, in late 2006 and early 2007, the family undertook their own investigation looking for the truth as to what the police did to James and why he died. In order to get access to necessary information which was not deemed public, they filed their lawsuit in February, 2007. During the course of the lawsuit, the family’s attorneys took over 75 depositions of witnesses, Portland Police Bureau employees, and others, obtained over 40,000 pages of documents, retained a police expert and spoke with countless other individuals to assist the family in evaluating what caused James’ death on September 17.

During the case, the City and the other defendants sought a protective order which the family and the media opposed. Once the order was entered, the family repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought to vacate the order in the interest of allowing the public access to information which was subject to the protective order. As a result of the protective order and other considerations in the case, the family has not been able to share much of the information they have gathered during the litigation, including important training information and information about the City’s internal investigations into James’ death.

As part of the tentative settlement of the case, the family insisted upon and the City has agreed to vacate the protective order as it applies to training information relevant to James’ death, the City’s internal investigations into James’ death and any resulting reports or discipline. The family is in the process of organizing the information as part of a full release of it to the public and hopes to have it available soon. The family is hopeful that by sharing this information and telling the true story of what caused James’ death, they will be able to help the public in its quest for a more open and accountable Portland Police Bureau.

The family will be issuing a statement which will more directly comment on the tentative settlement once it is finalized. All that they can say about the additional details of the settlement at this time is that James would have wanted the truth to come out by settling the case now.

Lastly, the family wants to thank the community for the tremendous support it has provided the family over the past 3 and ½ years and to encourage the community to be ever vigilant in monitoring the Portland Police Bureau to ensure that it actually serves and protects us.

Attorneys for the City of Portland will pursue an aggressive blame-the-victim defense strategy in the James Chasse case, according to court documents filed on March 29.

Chasse, who had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, was in Northwest Portland in 2006 when officers thought they saw him urinating in public. Terrified, he ran from police, but they caught up to him, tackled him, Tasered him, beat him, and kicked him, ignoring his pleas for mercy. Officers then took the dying man to jail rather than a hospital. Struggling for breath, bleeding from his mouth, his head covered with a blood-soaked “spit sock,” Chasse finally went into convulsions and died. He was 42 years old.

It took three years for the city to produce an investigation, and no Portland officer has been disciplined or held accountable for the death. Ensuing lawsuits by the family have led to a string of settlements prior to trial. Now, the only remaining defendants are the City of Portland, Officer Christopher Humphreys (who later beanbagged a 12-year-old girl), and Officer Kyle Nice (who recently pulled a gun on a civilian in a road-rage incident).

The newly filed documents include 50 pages of proposed jury instructions, in which city attorneys seek to hold Chasse responsible for his own death.

Lawyers want the jury advised that “Chasse’s pre-existing physical and mental condition, his resistance to the officers’ lawful orders and his inappropriate conduct is what caused his death.”

Further, they say, “The force used to gain physical control of Chasse and take him into custody was reasonable.” Officers also deny that their use of lethal force caused severe emotional distress.

Apprehending Chasse, who was not committing a crime, resulted in 16 broken ribs, internal injuries, a punctured lung, 46 contusions caused by kicks or punches, and, ultimately, his death.

But that level of force, claim the defendents, was not only reasonable, it was justifiable and “privileged.” They assert that they are not liable under federal or state law.

Oregon’s medical examiner, Dr. Karen Gunson, found that Chasse died of blunt-force trauma to the chest. Defense experts dispute this, offering a variety of other reasons for his death. One of these is “excited delirium,” a condition often used to explain deaths in police custody, even though it is not recognized in medicine or psychiatry. Another expert, Tillamook radiologist Dr. Michael Veverka, suggests that Chasse’s bones snapped because he had osteoporosis.

Defense expert Ken Katsaris, a law enforcement consultant from Florida, writes that “Chasse’s actions precipitated the police response.”

And that response, Katsaris adds, “should be expected by the police bureau and the public.”

The 12-year-old girl shot with a lead-pellet bag by Portland police officer Christopher Humphreys while defending herself against an unwarranted attack by Portland police officer Aaron Dauphy was found “guilty” of interfering with public transportation, resisting arrest, and assaulting Dauphy.

Illustration by Jesse Reklaw

The 12-year-old girl, who is now 13 years old, will be on probation for one year, was ordered to attend school, be screened for drug and alcohol use, seek mental health treatment, perform 24 hours of community service and attend skills classes.

Christopher Humphrey was one of three police officers who beat James Chasse and held him without medical attention until he died in 2006. Chasse committed no crime. After three years of internal discussion within the Portland Police Bureau, Humphrey spent two weeks on paid leave. Humphreys was also the officer who threw Lisa Ann Coppock to the ground and arrested her for attacking him. He suspected Coppock and the 12-year-old girl of the same crime – not having a $2.50 train ticket.

Oregonian columnist Anna Griffin opines yesterday about the stupidity of the prosecution of Lisa Coppock in Portland officer Christopher Humphreys at heart of another lingering court case, this one over TriMet fare

Under pressure from a proposed suspension by police commissioner Dan Saltzman for the death of James Chasse, and the subject of a intimidating show of force by 300+ supporters of the Portland Police union, Humphreys filed stress-related disability claim 10 days after shooting the 12-year-old girl. He has since returned to duty. He did not testify at the 12-year-old girl’s trial, and according to The Oregonian, has been dropped from the witness list in the upcoming Coppock trial.

“It is a case about unreasonable, unnecessary, excessive force,” the girl’s attorney Steve West told Multnomah County Judge Paula Kurshner. “We’re not dealing with an adult. We’re dealing with a 12-year-old girl with mental health issues.”

The girl is 12-years-old, African-American, and, according to her mother, has been taking psychiatric medication and seeing a psychiatrist since 2007. They plan to appeal Judge Kurshner’s decision in a higher court.

Beanbag Girl’s Mother: “She Doesn’t Like To Be Touched” from the Portland Mercury, March 2, 2010
Beanbag Girl Guilty, from the Portland Mercury, March 2, 2010
Officer Humphreys Vs. Beanbag Girl In Court, from the Portland Mercury, February 26, 2010
Girl shot by police beanbag found guilty, KATU.com, March 3, 2010
13-year-old shot by police beanbag sentenced, KGW.com, March 3, 2010
Girl shot with beanbag gets probation for hitting Portland police officer, Oregonian, March 3, 2010
Teen shot with beanbag gun sentenced to probation, KOIN.com, March 3, 2010
Girl In Beanbag Case Gets One Year Probation, Willamette Week, March 3, 2010

From Coming Up For Air, a monthly column for Street Roots newspaper, February 5, 2010
By Roy Silberstein, president of the board of directors

Left unblamed by the city of Portland’s attorney James Rice in his petition to move Chasse vs. Humphreys is the nonprofit advocacy organization responsible for informing the community about what happened to James Chasse.

The Mental Health Association of Portland spoke out and often about the facts of what happened to James since the day of his death, Sept. 17, 2006. We’re responsible for Rice’s desperately irrational and unprecedented request of Federal Court Judge Garr King to move Chasse v. Humphreys out of state.

James was a person with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, a person with friends, a family and a rich spiritual life. And he was a person beaten to death by those who swore to protect and to serve. His death was brutal, reprehensible and avoidable. As longtime witnesses for persons with mental illness hurt by institutions, we knew the city’s strategy would be misdirection, delay and defiance.

As advocates, we humbly accepted we would lose in court as well as in the administrative processes, politicians would be befuddled by bureaucrats, and legal justice would slip through our fingers.

So we selected a different strategy. We’ve done our best to speak to the truth about what happened to James. Advised by police officers, lawyers and colleagues, we gained an understanding of Portland’s bleak history of disciplining police officers for excessive use of force, of the number of persons with a diagnosis of mental illness killed or badly injured by police officers, and we’ve advocated publicly for changes in how police officers are recruited, trained and disciplined.

We collected every public scrap of information about James Chasse and what happened to him and put it online. And it will remain there.

We talked to the media, to students, to community groups, in church basements and living rooms, and told the story over and over. We told everyone.

We’re also making a feature-length documentary film about what happened to James. It’s called “Alien Boy,” and whether Chasse vs. Humphreys happens at the federal courthouse in Portland or on the steppes of Bhutan, we’ll be there with cameras rolling. We plan to finish filming with the end of this trial, edit the film and seek a buyer for national distribution.

We are proud of the advocacy we’ve done and will teach others to do the same. It’s the 21st century and information can no longer be contained.

Our work is far from over. We will not abide impunity.

There’s no reason to believe what happened to James Chasse will not happen again. The police insist they followed their training by beating Chasse. That training hasn’t been changed.

The police adopted a national model of training for mental health crisis, yet Officer Christopher Humphreys, ironically now himself on disability leave due to a trauma disorder — a mental illness — has used immoderate force in several incidents since his training, including shooting a 12-year-old girl with a lead pellet bag at point-blank range.

Just last weekend, a Portland police officer shot Aaron Campbell in the back with a semiautomatic rifle. Campbell was distraught because of the death of his brother. Because someone thought he might have a gun, he was left without medical attention and died in front of his family and friends who had called for help.

The truth is Chasse v. Humphreys is immaterial to the safety of our community. There’s no vindication for the officers if the family loses. There will be no sense of security or regained trust if the city loses.

Either way the civil trial goes, we all lose.

When it comes to handling crisis calls, Portland police have gained a sad reputation: all too often, the person in distress is brutalized or killed. Is Portland a danger zone for people with mental illness? We spoke with Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch, an advocacy group promoting police accountability. In Part 1 of our interview, Handelman talks about “suicide by cop,” Crisis Intervention Team training, and the disturbing mentality that can lead to tragedy. In Part 2, we ask about PTSD among police officers, and the best way to respond to a person in crisis.

Portland Mental Health Examiner: “A mental health worker recently told me that in the hospital, many, many patients talk about how easy it would be to commit ‘suicide by cop.’”

Dan Handelman: “Well, I don’t like that term, ‘suicide by cop,’ at all. I think it’s a misnomer, because suicide implies a person takes their own life. If the police shoot you, it’s still a homicide. They might want to call it legally justifiable – that’s the business of the courts – but just because you feel like you’d like to die, doesn’t mean the police have to comply with your desires.

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