Mental Health Association of Portland

From the Portland Mercury, February 4, 2010

It’s no secret Multnomah County is strapped for cash. County Chair Ted Wheeler was even moved to quote former President of Czechoslovakia Václav Havel in the introduction to the county’s 2010 budget.

“Hope is a state of mind, not of the world,” wrote Wheeler, cutting $46 million out of the $1.2 billion budget because of the recession. Of those cuts, the sheriff’s office took a $1.8 million hit, losing 26 positions and negotiating a wage freeze for some employees. Available jail beds have also plunged from 1,690 in 2007 to just 1,367 today, and there’s little sign of improvement on the horizon. Unless….

A revived proposal by the district attorney’s office suggests outsourcing health care in the county’s jails to a private contractor. The idea could save between $4 million and $5 million a year, says Deputy District Attorney Chuck French, who convened the 2009 corrections grand jury, which made the recommendation last December in its report.

“One of the problems in our mental health system is that there has been no support for community mental health,” says French. “And that’s really where you get the best bang for your buck.”

As such, the jury suggested shifting the savings to support community mental health services like Project Respond—which aims to treat mental health problems before people act out in ways that could be construed as criminal, and end up in the county’s jails ["The Criminalization of Mental Illness," Feature, Jan 14].

French first made the recommendation as part of a corrections review in 2006, which highlighted a contract between nearby Washington County and a company called Prison Health Services, Inc. (PHS), based out of Tennessee.

“A huge benefit of the contract signed by PHS and Washington County is that by the terms of the contract, PHS accepts all legal liability for judgments against the county involving legal actions for inadequate jail medical care,” reads French’s report.

“Recent events have demonstrated just how significant a contract clause like that might be,” the report continues. “As Multnomah County is now facing the prospect of defending against a probable multi-million dollar lawsuit involving the death of an arrestee brought to the jail.”

Since then, the county has settled its portion of the lawsuit mentioned for $925,000, relating to the 2006 death in custody of James Chasse Jr.—a man with schizophrenia.

Mental health advocates agree that Chasse should have had better care in the community before he was arrested, but they are also concerned about farming out jail health services to corporations just to save money on potential lawsuits.

“This is the canary in the mine,” says Roy Silberstein, president of the Mental Health Association of Portland, saying PHS has faced more than 1,000 lawsuits at facilities across the country.

“The expense of these settlements is merely the acceptable cost to PHS of doing business,” Silberstein continues. “But our association believes the efficiencies and savings PHS provides are at the expense of systemic and unconscionable paucity of quality health care.”

For example, PHS paid $1.5 million in December to the widow of a Virginia man with mental illness who died of pneumonia and dehydration in one of its jails. In November 2008, an Idaho jury awarded $3.6 million to a woman who gave birth on a prison ramp in a PHS jail. Her baby was run over by a wheelchair, and now has cerebral palsy. Meanwhile the New York Times branded PHS care “flawed and sometimes lethal” at the conclusion of a 12-month investigation back in 2005.

Interim Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton is looking into the grand jury’s suggestions, and will make recommendations to Chair Wheeler on March 2. Staton says people have suggested to him that he might be in favor of contracting out, but that such a characterization is “totally inaccurate.”

“I have no intention of making any move on this until a full and thorough study has been done,” says Staton, emphasizing that the quality of health care inmates receive “is obviously going to be foremost.”

Wheeler says the county considered this idea before, back in 2006, but that the potential savings did not justify the risks.

“The question is: What are you giving up?” says Wheeler. “There are some cost savings that can’t be justified as a matter of conscience.”

“I would be opposed to anything that would give the jail inferior services,” French responds.

PHS spokesman Pat Nolan says the company is aware that Multnomah County is “considering the option of outsourcing its corrective health care,” but adds, “I really don’t want to get into some big long debate before there’s actually an RFP [request for proposals] process”—if the contract is opened up for bids.

“If there is an RFP process, I suspect that oversight will be a part of that,” Nolan continues. “We feel good about our record.”

From the Oregonian, February 2, 2010

The lawyer for James P. Chasse Jr.’s family called the City of Portland’s push to transfer the federal civil rights trial out of state frivolous, and estimated it would cost the plaintiffs alone more than $40,000, according to court papers filed this week.

Attorney Thomas Steenson says the federal court has no authority to grant the city’s request to transfer the two-week trial to Washington or Idaho because the events occurred in Portland and the plaintiffs could not have brought the case outside Oregon.

Click here to read the rest of this story

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.

Click here to read the rest of this story

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.

Click here to read the rest of this story

Editorial from The Oregonian, January 20, 2010

This being Portland, people are not shy in telling Homer Williams what (and who) they think killed James P. Chasse Jr.

And why not? Their imaginations are free to roam.

Nearly three and a half years after the frail — and mentally ill — musician died in police custody, the facts that might rope in public debate are still missing.

Click here to read the rest of this story

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.”

Click here to read the rest of this story

From the Oregonian, January 15, 2010, 4:40PM

The Pearl District intersection where James P. Chasse Jr. was knocked to the ground and handcuffed on Sept. 17, 2006.

A citizen panel charged with reviewing complaints against Portland police is pushing to hold a public forum on the 2006 death in police custody of James P. Chasse Jr. , a step that appears to unsettle some city officials.

Members of the Citizen Review Committee met with the chair of Portland State University’s criminal justice department today, and are considering having Ron Louie, a former Hillsboro police chief and adjunct professor, serve as facilitator.

No date has been set, but the citizen panel is considering a two-hour session this spring.

The League of Women Voters had pressed the Citizen Review Committee to hold a public forum.

“The Chasse case has raised some extremely important issues and questions about police policy for many Portlanders,” wrote Debbie Aiona, action chair for the league, in a letter to the committee. “As the citizen face of our city’s police oversight system, it is important for you to reach out to the public and listen to its concerns.”

Chasse, 42, who suffered from schizophrenia, died in police custody on Sept. 17, 2006.

An autopsy 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 police were driving him to a hospital.

Chasse’s family has a federal lawsuit pending against the city and paramedics, contending police used excessive force, and police and paramedics failed to provide adequate medical care to Chasse. A trial is set for June.

Mary-Beth Baptista, director of the Independent Police Review Division, the intake center for complaints against police, cautioned the citizen panel today not to set up the public for disappointment and carefully frame how the public forum will be held and how the citizen committee will respond.

Organizers said they hoped to have at least one of the outside consultants being hired this year to review the Chasse investigation attend the public forum.

The city auditor is poised to sign a contract with the consultant, the California-based OIR Group, to review the quality of the police internal investigation of Chasse’s death, why it took more than three years to complete and if any bureau policies or training need to be addressed. The consultants are expected to submit their report by the end of June, Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade said.

“Really the consultant’s role is very, very narrow,” Baptista said. She cautioned the citizen review committee not to raise the public’s expectations because the consultants aren’t going to be able to include all their concerns in their final report.

The city’s request for proposals for the Chasse review said the consultants would meet with the Citizen Review Committee and “interested community members, as deemed necessary by the City Auditor and the IPR director.”

Aiona, of the League of Women Voters, said she was disappointed that the wording of the proposal restricted which community members the consultants could meet with. “Who is government serving if not the public?’’ Aiona asked.

Members of the Citizen Review Committee Friday talked about logistics and planning for a forum. Talk about having PSU security at the event raised concerns among some community activists, who argued it’s unnecessary.

Kevin Hershey, a PSU student helping to organize the forum, said university officials are “sensitive to not making this a circus. I think everyone involved wants to make it as civilized as possible.”

Citizen review committee member Rochelle Silver , who met with PSU officials Friday, said , “Everybody was excited about the idea of this forum. I think it can all come together.”

City’s request for change of venue to the U.S. District Court of Oregon

From OPB News, January 12, 2010

From KGW, January 12, 2010

From the Portland Tribune, January 12, 2010

From the Portland Mercury, January 12, 2010

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 the Oregonian, January 05, 2010

The California-based consultants selected to review the Portland police investigation of the death of James P. Chasse Jr. estimated that their work would cost $68,400, based on work hours for three investigators, as well as airfare and accommodations.

The city of Portland and the OIR Group, which stands for Office of Independent Review Group, have not yet signed a formal contract, but a contract is expected to be completed within weeks.

“From here, we’ll negotiate and come to a consensus,” said Kevin Yin, a city procurement supervisor.

The city released the OIR Group’s proposal for the project in response to a public record’s request. City Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade has asked that the consultants determine why the Portland internal inquiry into Chasse’s death spanned nearly three years and whether police policies or training are adequate.

It’s expected to begin late this month and last through June.

On Sept. 17, 2006, police thought Chasse, 42, who had schizophrenia, may 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 place him under arrest. Jail staff refused to book him because of his medical condition, and he died in police custody en route to a hospital. An autopsy found he died of broad-based blunt force trauma to the chest, and showed he suffered 26 breaks to 16 ribs, some of which punctured his left lung.

Six attorneys make up the OIR Group, which since October 2001 has contracted with Los Angeles County to provide independent civilian oversight for all internal affairs and internal criminal investigations within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. It has reviewed high-profile officer involved shootings, 12 inmate murders in county jails, and less-lethal force incidents on patrol and in the jails, and provided consultant services to other law enforcement agencies, the group’s proposal says.

The three attorneys who will be involved in the review of the Chasse police investigation will be Michael Gennaco, the OIR Group’s founding member and formerly chief of the civil rights unit in the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office; Robert Miller, also a founding member of the OIR Group who spent 15 years as a Los Angeles County prosecutor; and Julie Ruhlin, who previously worked as a consultant with the Police Assessment Resource Center, the Los Angeles-based group that had a contract with Portland to review officer-involved shooting investigations.

Ruhlin will primarily review reports, transcripts and investigative documents, and conduct interviews with case investigators. Miller will review the police bureau’s policies and interview police supervisors and executives, while Gennaco will serve as project manager, coordinate scheduling and direction, and edit the team’s final report.

In its letter to the city of Portland in mid-November, the OIR Group argued that it was uniquely qualified to review the Chasse investigation because of its “broad range of experience in monitoring police agencies responses to critical incidents and its particular experience in reviewing in-custody deaths.” The California consultants also wrote that they view “public confidence and transparency as important components of improved policing.”

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.”

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.