Mental Health Association of Portland

From the Portland Mercury, February 27, 2013

Merle Mikal Hatch was holding a busted, stolen black telephone handset—eight inches long and two inches wide—when he ran at a pack of Portland cops he’d been swearing at and goading from 80 yards away. He clearly wasn’t in his right mind. And he didn’t have a gun.

But Hatch never got any closer than 40 or so feet, dropping when those three officers opened fire outside Adventist Medical Center on Sunday, February 17.

The story of Hatch’s final moments—Portland’s first police shooting of 2013—came out last Wednesday, February 20, during a carefully programmed press conference. The cops released a cell phone video, police radio audio, and surveillance camera stills to help fill in the picture of a death that happened just 12 minutes after the East Precinct first received calls about Hatch.

But, of note, police still won’t say how many shots were fired, what Hatch was doing in Adventist’s emergency room, or whether the cops who shot him had even thought about using less-lethal weapons to subdue a man who kept calling them from behind an SUV to “come play.” Those things will wait for a grand jury hearing expected in the next several days.

“They intentionally kept their distance,” Police Chief Mike Reese said, flanked at one point by his boss, Mayor Charlie Hales, and newly promoted Assistant Chief Donna Henderson. “The situation unfolded very quickly.”

The implied storyline, without knowing why Hatch was a patient at Adventist, was “suicide by cop.” Photos show Hatch, with a black object in his waistband, confronting a security guard. In the cell phone video, captured by a hospital neighbor leaning outside a window, Hatch can be heard shouting various incendiary things at the cops he spotted:

“I’m gonna take hostages, motherfucker. You stupid motherfucker.” “You’re making it fucking hard for me and you.” “You want some? You wanna play? Come on.”

Finally, he takes off, announcing: “Okay. I’m gonna come to you. I’m coming to you, pig. Let’s go. Let’s go.” As he raced closer, the officers didn’t budge. Hatch starts counting while the officers bark out “stop” and “hands up.” By the time Hatch bellows “THREE,” there’s a loud burst of gunfire followed by one more shot at the very end.

The police audio repeatedly describes Hatch’s broken phone headset as a “weapon” and “gun,” even warning after he fell that “the weapon is just a few inches from his right hand.” But Henderson wouldn’t say for sure, citing the grand jury process, whether the officers clearly saw him clutching it.

“We’re very concerned the police shot somebody who was holding a piece of plastic in their hands,” says Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch. “Maybe the police could have used less-lethal weapons if he was charging at them.”

Handelman, later in the week, offered to produce flashcards for the police bureau illustrating the difference between real weapons and simulated weapons—drawing from several police shootings in recent years in which men were shot while holding things like an X-Acto knife. On Monday, February 25, he said Reese had not taken him up on the offer.

“No response.”

The bureau also trumpeted something it didn’t know when cops shot Hatch: that he was a federal fugitive with a long record who likely robbed two local banks in the days before he died.

Handelman was reminded of officers’ attempts to cover the 2006 death of James Chasse Jr., when witnesses and others were told of drug charges that proved false.

“They didn’t know any of that stuff when they shot him,” Handelman says. “They’re trying to smear his character so that when a grand jury is considering whether police acted lawfully they’ll say, ‘Look. This is a bad guy.’”

The bureau did say it could find no history of mental illness for Hatch. But it argued that medical privacy laws prevent it from saying why he was at Adventist or exactly how long he’d been there before he threatened a guard and ran outside.

The Mental Health Association of Portland grimly notes that most people killed by police, historically, are somehow impaired—suffering from untreated addiction or a brain injury or mental illness.

“These deaths are rare but predictable and are largely avoidable” with better police training, recruiting, and tactics, it said in a statement. “‘Suicide by cop’ is not an accident.”

When journalists look critically at deaths by police action they’ll find the vast majority have one thing in common – the deceased person’s thinking and/or their ability to communicate was impaired. The causes and severity of impairment may be different death by death. Typical causes are untreated mental illness, untreated addiction and alcoholism, untreated psychiatric injuries such as post-traumatic stress disorder, developmental disabilities, brain injuries, diabetes and epilepsy, neurological disorders, cultural and language barriers, dementia, and others.

We believe – after reviewing the public record of hundreds of deaths – whether the deceased person was impaired should be a primary concern to officers, investigators, police and city administrators, risk and insurance administrators, bond-holders, medical examiners, judges, district attorneys, plaintiffs attorneys, family, friends and neighbors.

These deaths are rare but predictable and are largely avoidable. It is incumbent on police bureaus and city administrators to provide recruiting, training, ongoing support, tools, funding, policy, procedure, strategies and tactics, sufficient so a zero tolerance policy for non-accidental police-caused deaths can assure citizens that police officers are safe to engage with persons who are impaired.

Firing multiple bullets into a person is not an accident.  Beating and kicking a person who is on the ground and crying “Mercy!” is not an accident.  Cutting off a person’s breath until they suffocate is not an accident.  Tasering someone past the point of submission is not an accident.

“Suicide by cop” is not an accident.

Police identify victim of fatal officer-involved shooting

The man who was shot by police Sunday evening was identified today as Chase Hammer, 27, of Salem.

Chase Hammer

Hammer was shot and killed Sunday after police encountered an armed man outside of a residence in the 3700 block of Scenic View Drive SE.

Police responded to the residence after Hammer’s girlfriend called police at 6:26 p.m. to report Hammer was despondent, was threatening to kill himself and had left with a gun, police said.

During the encounter, Salem Police Corporal Ryan Demmer shot Hammer at approximately 7:53 p.m. The man was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Salem police spokesman Dave Okada said that Hammer did not respond to Demmer’s commands to drop his weapon.

Oregon State Police are conducting an independent investigation into the shooting, which is a standard procedure. The involved officers have been placed on administrative leave.

Police shoot and kill man holding gun in Salem

From KATU.com, October 21, 2012

Authorities say a Salem police officer shot and killed a 26-year-old man who refused repeated warnings to drop his firearm.

Police say the incident began Sunday evening when a woman called police and reported her boyfriend had a gun and was threatening to kill himself.

Officers responded to a home near Ewald Avenue SE and Scenic View Drive SE. They located the man outside of the home and repeatedly told him to drop his gun. Police said Corporal Ryan Demmer shot the man when he failed to comply.

“It’s a very quiet, you know, friendly neighborhood,” a neighbor told us. “Nothing has ever happened like this before.”

The man who was shot was later identified as 27-year-old Chase Hammer from Salem. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was hurt.

Cpl. Demmer was awarded the Medal of Valor along with two other officers in 2003 for saving a woman from a burning home.

Police said Demmer will be placed on paid administrative leave, as is standard procedure, while an investigation into the shooting is conducted.

On Saturday, police shot and killed an attacking pit bull in NE Salem. A man was shot in the foot in that incident. No officers were hurt.

Man shot and killed by Salem police identified – KPTV.com

Salem police ID man shot by officer – KGW.com

Portland detective acted reasonably in shooting at unarmed man in Aloha, district attorney’s office says

From the Oregonians, October 09, 2012

A Portland police detective acted reasonably in shooting at an unarmed man in Aloha during the summer, according to the Washington County District Attorney’s Office.

Michael Anthony Tate Jr., 25, pointed a “black object” – later identified as a cellphone – toward Portland Detective Travis Fields and the officer believed the object was a firearm, Chief Deputy District Attorney Roger Hanlon wrote to Portland Police Chief Mike Reese last week. Fields fired two rounds at Tate, but he was not struck. Tate, who authorities said was wanted in connection with a parole violation and Beaverton assault, later jumped from a third-story apartment window.

He was injured and received medical treatment before being taken into custody.

Michael Anthony Tate

Hanlon reviewed the investigation, conducted by the Washington County Major Crimes Team, and determined that “there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing” by Fields and that it was not necessary to present the case to a Washington County grand jury.

Following the incident, authorities were tight-lipped. They refused to say whether Tate was armed or provide details about what prompted the shooting. Hanlon’s letter provides the first glimpse of the circumstances related to the Aug. 21 incident.

Fields, a 15-year law enforcement veteran, is assigned to the U.S. Marshals Oregon Fugitive Task Force, according to the Portland Police Bureau. Members of the task force arrived at the Aloha apartment, in the 18100 block of Southwest Rosa Road, in the morning of Aug. 21. Authorities had a warrant to arrest Tate and had information that he may be inside the unit.

Fields and Washington County Sheriff’s Detective Brad Verboort, also a member of the task force, knocked on the apartment’s door and Tate’s relative, Monica Jaramillo, answered, according to the letter. Jaramillo told the investigators that they could come inside, where they found Tate sitting on the couch in her living room.

Fields and Verboort told Tate about the arrest warrant, and they instructed him to stand up to be cuffed.

“Mr. Tate quickly turned and ran and produced from his pocket or clothing a black object which Mr. Tate raised to eye level and pointed in the direction of Det. Fields,” Hanlon wrote. “Det. Fields perceived the black object to be a firearm and fired two rounds from his service weapon (which until that time had remained holstered.)”

Tate ran into a bathroom, then into a bedroom, where he jumped out of the window, the letter says. State Police Detective Dirk Anderson, also a member of the task force, found that Tate’s “black encased cell phone” remained in his right hand after he jumped.

Jaramillo told investigators, the letter says, that Tate had come to her apartment early that morning “upset, hysterical and crying.” She said that Tate told her he was involved in a fight or argument, cut off his parole GPS monitoring bracelet and didn’t want to go back to prison, according to the letter.

Jaramillo told Tate to turn himself in to authorities. But he didn’t want to and said “‘(h)e’d rather just die and have them think he has a gun and shoot him,’” Jaramillo told police.

“A reasonable conclusion is that Mr. Tate was largely successful in provoking law enforcement into using deadly force in his attempt to be killed rather than return to prison…and that Det. Fields reasonably responded to the perceived threat from Mr. Tate,” Hanlon wrote.

Tate, according to Hanlon’s letter, previously served several years in prison related to an assault. Two days before the shooting, Beaverton officers responded to a reported assault involving Tate’s girlfriend, who told police Tate attacked her, knocking out her right, front tooth.

Authorities said Tate was wanted on accusations of second-degree assault, strangulation and menacing in connection with that attack. Tate is being held in the Multnomah County Jail, according to records.

Washington County authorities won’t say whether man shot at by officer in Aloha was armed

From The Oregonian, August 31, 2012

A 25-year-old man was shot at on Aug. 21 by a Portland police officer, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities won’t say whether the man was armed.

More than a week after a Portland police officer fired his weapon at a wanted man in Aloha, Washington County authorities have yet to release whether the man was armed or further details about what prompted the shooting.

Michael Anthony Tate

On Aug. 21, Portland Detective Travis Fields fired two rounds at Michael Anthony Tate Jr., who then jumped out of a third-story apartment window, Sgt. Bob Ray, a sheriff’s office spokesman, said on Friday. Ray said Tate was not armed with a gun. It is unknown whether Fields’ shots struck Tate.

Fields, a 15-year law enforcement veteran, is assigned to the U.S. Marshals Oregon Fugitive Task Force, according to the Portland Police Bureau. He remains on paid administrative leave. The bureau is also conducting a standard internal review of the shooting.

Sgt. Pete Simpson, a Portland police spokesman, referred all questions regarding the investigation to Washington County authorities.

The Washington County Major Crimes Team is conducting the shooting investigation, which will be presented to the district attorney’s office for review. Chief Deputy District Attorney Roger Hanlon said he wasn’t in a place to discuss the shooting Friday.

“The investigation is continuing,” he said. “I hope that the investigation will be concluded in the next two to three weeks at which point the reports will be forwarded to our office for our review. It would be inappropriate to comment on the contents of the investigation until it’s completed.”

Ray said Tate was wanted on charges of second-degree assault, strangulation and menacing following an attack on a woman in Beaverton. He was also wanted on a parole violation out of Multnomah County, Ray said.

Members of the U.S. Marshals Oregon Fugitive Task Force arrived at the Aloha apartment, in the 18100 block of Southwest Rosa Road, in the morning of Aug. 21. Shortly after 12:05 p.m., Fields fired the two shots.

Specific information about why the officer fired has not been released.

“When the Marshals attempted to arrest Mr. Tate, he was resistive and his actions escalated forcing a Marshal to fire his weapon,” Ray said in the initial press release.

After the officer fired, Tate broke a window in the third-story apartment and jumped, Ray said. He landed in some dirt and was taken to a local hospital.

The sheriff’s office said he suffered “substantial injuries.” His condition is unknown.

No police officers were injured during the incident.

Yelma Cortes, 20, who lives in the apartment complex, said a bullet punctured a coin-sized hole in her dining room wall. There was another hole, she said, in her third-story deck.

Man who jumped from Aloha apartment after officer fired at him still receiving medical treatment

From the Oregonian, August 22, 2012

A wanted man who jumped out of a third-story window at an Aloha apartment after a Portland police officer fired his weapon at him Tuesday is continuing to receive medical treatment, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

Michael Anthony Tate Jr.’s condition is unknown. The sheriff’s office said Tuesday that he suffered “substantial injuries.” Sgt. Bob Ray, a sheriff’s office spokesman, said all of the injuries found so far on the 25-year-old have been related to his jumping out of the window.

A wanted man who jumped out of a third-story window after a police officer fired his weapon at him is continuing to receive medical treatment, according to authorities. His condition is unknown.

Authorities remained tight-lipped about the case Wednesday. A woman who answered the door to the apartment, in the 18100 block of Southwest Rosa Road, declined to comment.

Yelma Cortes, 20, who lives in the apartment complex, said she was home taking care of her baby daughter and getting lunch ready in the kitchen Tuesday. The moment she sat down on her couch, she heard a noise of glass shattering. Dust flew up in her dining room, she said.

Then she realized: It’s a bullet. It’s a gunshot.

Cortes, a stay at home mom, said she grabbed her baby and her sister and ran into the bathroom, where they stayed for a few silent minutes.

When she came out, police evacuated her family for several hours.

A bullet had punctured a coin-sized hole in her white dining room wall, she said. Another hole, she said, pockmarked her third-story outside deck.

When Cortes returned for questioning from detectives, she remembered that she didn’t hear any shouting. She said she didn’t know her neighbor, the woman whom a wanted man had come to see.

“We’re just here, minding our own business,” Cortes said. “There was no shouting, none of that.”

Members of the U.S. Marshals Oregon Fugitive Task Force had arrived at the apartment Tuesday morning. Shortly after 12:05 p.m., the Portland police officer, who is a member of the task force, fired at least one shot in the apartment, Ray said.

Authorities have not released how many shots he fired or information about whether Tate was armed. Specific information about why the officer fired has not been released.

“When the Marshals attempted to arrest Mr. Tate, he was resistive and his actions escalated forcing a Marshal to fire his weapon,” Ray said in a press release.

No police officers were injured during the incident.

After the officer fired, Tate broke a window in the third-story apartment and jumped, Ray said. He reportedly landed in some dirt, and was taken to OHSU Hospital in Portland.

One other person, in addition to Tate, was inside the apartment at the time of the shooting. Ray wasn’t sure how many officers entered the location.

The Washington County Major Crimes Team is continuing to investigate.

Family calls for help; Washington County deputy shoots their loved one

By Findley Merritt, The Oregonian, September 09, 2012

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred at Bethany Meadows Apartments, 16000 block of Northwest Laidlaw Road, Sunday afternoon that left the suspect in the hospital.

Sgt. Vance Stimler said deputies responded to a call around 3:45 p.m. from 50-year-old Jeffery Holmes‘ family who were worried about his welfare.

The two deputies spoke with Holmes through his door at the apartment complex urging him to come outside and speak with them. Stimler said when the man opened his door, he assaulted one of the deputies with a knife.

The deputy who was stabbed shot Holmes once with his gun in self-defense.

Holmes was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, and the other deputy received a small laceration from the knife. Holmes’ condition is unknown at this time.

Stimler said the deputy who opened fire will be placed on paid leave pending the investigation.

No more information will be released at this time.

Deputy shoots man in Beaverton

From KOIN.com, September 9, 2012

A 50-year-old man was shot during an interaction with a deputy Sunday, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

This happened at the Bethany Meadows Apartments on Northwest Spartan Way in Beaverton, Ore.

Witnesses say the injured man, now identified as 50-year-old Jeffrey Holmes, was shot at multiple times.

“I heard the gunshots,” said neighbor Garrett Richards, who reported hearing five shots. “And then I came down here on my bike, and I saw a guy get carried out on a stretcher.”

Holmes was taken to the hospital, and underwent surgery Sunday afternoon. His injuries are life threatening, according to the sheriff’s office.

What led up to this shooting?

Deputies say two officers went to the Bethany Meadows apartment complex to conduct a welfare check on Holmes. This was around 4 p.m. Sunday.

“When he opened the door, he actually attacked the deputy with a knife,” Washington County Sheriff’s Sgt. Vance Stimler told KOIN. “The deputy responded by firing at the suspect.”

The deputy involved is on paid leave, which is standard procedure. He reported being slightly hurt by the knife, but was not taken to the hospital.

Deputies blocked off the entire Bethany Meadows apartment complex Sunday, as the investigation into the shooting began. The Washington County Major Crimes Team is investigating, as well as the Washington County District Attorney’s Office.

Police: knife-wielding man was shot in self-defense

From KPTV.com, September 9, 2012

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a deputy-involved shooting in the Bethany area of Washington County.

A sheriff’s representative tells FOX 12 that a deputies responded to a welfare check at an apartment complex in the 16000 block of Northwest Laidlaw just after 3:30 p.m.

Officials said the deputies knocked on the door and made contact with 49-year-old Jeffery Holmes.

Investigators said Holmes initially opened his door slightly to talk with deputies. As deputies continued to talk with Holmes, they said he suddenly opened his door all the way and attacked the deputies with a knife.

One of the deputies opened fire, shooting Holmes at least once.

“I was just sitting on the couch watching TV and I just heard like 5 gunshots go off,” said Garrett Richards, who lives in the apartment complex. “Five minutes later I heard a whole bunch of cop cars coming in and out of the apartments.”

Medics took Holmes to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Deputies did not have an update on his condition Sunday night.

The deputy who shot Holmes suffered minor injuries in the attack and was placed on administrative leave.

Washington County authorities continue to investigate deputy-involved shooting that injured Bethany man

From The Oregonian, September 10, 2012

Washington County authorities are continuing to investigate a deputy-involved shooting that wounded a 49-year-old Bethany man Sunday afternoon.

Jeffrey Holmes

Jeffrey Holmes, 49, was shot at least once after he attacked a deputy with a knife, said Sgt. Vance Stimler, a Washington County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. The sheriff’s office isn’t releasing the number of times Holmes was shot or the number of rounds the deputy fired.

The sheriff’s office initially released an erroneous spelling of Holmes’ first name.

About 3:35 p.m., deputies responded to the Bethany Meadows Apartments, located in the 16000 block of Northwest Laidlaw Road, after Holmes’ family called to have deputies check on him, Stimler said. Holmes’ family was worried about him, but the sheriff’s office hasn’t released specific information about their concerns.

When deputies arrived, they spoke with Holmes through his door at the apartment complex and urged him to come outside and speak with them. Stimler said when Holmes opened his door, he attacked one of the deputies with a knife.

The deputy who was attacked shot Holmes at least once with his gun in self-defense, according to the sheriff’s office.

Holmes was taken to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland with life-threatening injuries, said Sgt. Bob Ray, another sheriff’s office spokesman. Ray said Holmes underwent surgery at least once. His condition was not available Monday afternoon.

The deputy, who has not been identified, suffered a small laceration from the knife, Stimler said, and was treated at the scene. Specific information about the deputy’s injury has not been released. It’s unknown what kind of knife Holmes used.

The deputy involved in the shooting has been placed on paid administrative leave, a standard procedure. The Washington County Major Crimes Team and district attorney’s office are leading the investigation, which will be presented to the district attorney’s office for review. The shooting is the fourth officer-involved shooting in Washington County this year and the third to involve sheriff’s deputies.

• In June, a sheriff’s deputy fatally shot Robert Kimball Fox, 52, of Aloha, after authorities say he pointed a “loaded high-power rifle” at deputies and failed to respond to multiple commands to drop the gun.
• In July, two sheriff’s deputies fatally shot Jeffery David Anderson, 56, after he also pointed a loaded rifle toward deputies, authorities said.
• Last month, a Portland police officer fired his weapon at Michael Anthony Tate Jr. in Aloha while trying to arrest him on a felony warrant, according to the sheriff’s office. Authorities have not released specific details about what prompted that shooting, including whether or not Tate was armed.

READ – Everything about what happened to Lukus Glenn

Jury in Lukus Glenn wrongful death trial finds fatal shooting violated his rights

From The Oregonian, August 30, 2012

Jurors sided with the Glenn family in the wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf on Lukus Glenn, shot and killed by Washington County sheriff’s deputies outside his Metzger home in 2006.

The verdict, read just after 3:30 p.m. Thursday, awarded $2.5 million in damages. Jurors found that deputies violated the teen’s Fourth Amendment rights in the shooting. They also found that former Sheriff Rob Gordon approved of the deputies’ actions in his executive summary, following an administrative review, which said the shooting was appropriate.

The lawsuit, filed in 2008, sought $5 million in damages from defendants Washington County and sheriff’s deputies Mikhail Gerba and Timothy Mateski, who fired the lethal rounds.

U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman dismissed the suit in 2010. On appeal, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a trial in the case, saying the facts of the case were in dispute and the court was not allowed to act as factfinder on summary judgment.

The Glenns’ day in court came last week, nearly six years after Hope and Brad Glenn witnessed the killing of their only child.

The incident began just after 3 a.m. Sept. 16, 2006, when Hope Glenn called 9-1-1, reporting her son was drunk, armed with a pocketknife and threatening suicide.

Minutes later, deputies arrived to find Lukus Glenn, 18, outside the family’s Metzger home, holding the knife to his neck. With the teen at gunpoint, deputies shouted commands. When he did not drop the knife, a Tigard police officer shot him with beanbag rounds. Gerba and Mateski then opened fire after determining that Glenn was moving toward the house, where his parents and grandmother were inside.

Attorney for the Glenns, Larry Peterson, stressed to jurors a number of mistakes led to a “false narrative” by police attempting to disguise an unreasonable shooting.

William Blair, attorney for the county and its deputies, argued the shooting was tragic but reasonable. The deputies acted in response to the threat Glenn presented to himself, to his family and friends and to them, he told jurors.

Jury awards $2.5 million to mother in Lukus Glenn case

From KATU.com, August 30, 2012

The mother of a Tigard teenager shot and killed by deputies won her lawsuit against the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the two deputies who opened fire.

A jury in federal court awarded Hope Glenn $2.5 million in the wrongful death suit of her son Lukus Glenn.

Lukus Glenn was shot and killed by deputies in 2006 after his mother had called 9-1-1 to report she feared for her son’s safety and the safety of others around him.

Lukus, 18, was armed with a knife at the time. The deputies reportedly told him to drop the knife before firing.

He was hit with six beanbag rounds before Washington County Sheriff’s deputies fired their service weapons, hitting him eight times, when they said he refused to surrender.

The deputies fired the beanbags and the live rounds in a span of just eight seconds. Hope Glenn has always contended the deputies acted too quickly in shooting and killing her son.

“I’m hoping that nobody else has to go through what we went through and other kids won’t be shot,” she said after the jury’s decision.

On Thursday in a federal courtroom, a jury said they agreed that the sheriff’s office should be held accountable.

The jury said that the two deputies and former sheriff Rob Gordon were responsible for the wrongful death.

Sgt. Bob Ray, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said they the department has not yet decided if they will appeal the decision.

“This has been a very difficult ordeal for the family of Lukus Glenn and for our deputies and their families,” he said in a statement.

The deputies were previously cleared of any criminal charges.

When asked whether there was any intention of changing policy or training within the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Pat Garrett said, “You know that is an ongoing process that we take very seriously with an administrative review, with an annual training that we provide every year. So that’s not something that would be new for us. That is an ongoing part of the evolution of our organization.”

It’s not clear if Washington County will appeal the decision.

The decision by the seven-member jury comes after a long legal journey for Hope. It included a judgment against her by a federal judge, which was later overturned by an appeals court.

The decision is historic not only for the rarity of a jury ruling against a law enforcement agency but also for the $2.5 million it decided to award Hope in this wrongful death suit.

Outside the courthouse, Hope and Brad Glenn hugged their supporters, including a couple of Lukus’ friends who were there the night of the shooting and witnessed it.

Lukus Glenn wrongful death lawsuit awaits jury’s verdict

From The Oregonian, August 29, 2012

Jurors in the wrongful death trial of Lukus Glenn, fatally shot by Washington County sheriff’s deputies in 2006, left the courtroom to deliberate after 4 p.m. Wednesday.

On the final day of trial, they heard from the deputies who opened fire on the 18-year-old, who was holding a knife outside his Metzger home Sept. 16, 2006. Then, attorneys delivered closing arguments for little more than two hours.

In closing arguments, Larry Peterson, representing the Glenn family, stressed to jurors a number of mistakes led to a “false narrative” by police attempting to disguise an unreasonable shooting.

Hope Glenn called 9-1-1 just after 3 a.m. that morning for help with her drunk son. He was holding a knife, demanding his car keys and threatening suicide. His friends and family were struggling to talk sense into him.

“You ought not be afraid to call and seek assistance,” Peterson said. “If Lukus Glenn was saying anything that night with his knife to his neck, he said one thing loud and clear: ‘Help me.’ That’s what Lukus Glenn was saying as he stood there.”

The defense counsel for Washington County and two of its deputies wanted jurors to believe Glenn was in control of his behavior that early morning, Peterson said. But with a blood alcohol content more than twice the legal limit, he was not in control but in danger.

“He was the person that ought to have had the protection offered by our police services,” Peterson said. “He didn’t get it.”

Deputies Mikhail Gerba and Timothy Mateski, who fired the lethal gunshots, and the Tigard police officer who shot Glenn with beanbag rounds had changed their stories over time, Peterson argued, because they first tried to establish a time gap between the firing of less-lethal and lethal rounds.

When an audio recording of the 9-1-1 call that captured the gunfire surfaced, police had to explain the impossibilities in their initial stories, he argued.

Peterson told jurors the sheriff’s office administrative review didn’t resolve the inconsistencies throughout the investigation. By contrast, he said, the statements of Glenn’s parents,and his two friends who witnessed the shooting remained consistent.

William Blair, attorney for the county and deputies Gerba and Mateski, said in his closing arguments that the shooting was tragic but reasonable.

The deputies acted in response to the threat Glenn presented to himself, to his family and friends and to them, Blair said.

“He’s armed, he’s agitated, he’s acting out, he’s putting the knife to his neck, he’s saying he’s going to kill himself, he’s already broken car windows and kicked in the door of the house,” he said.

They were asserting control in “a situation the police did not create,” Blair said, “a situation the police were called to manage.”

Glenn ran for the house after he was struck with beanbag rounds, he said. Had Glenn run in the opposite direction, away from the house, he would not have been shot.

“What’s important is the deputies can’t read his mind, so in all the universe of possible things that may have been going through his mind,” Blair said. “What’s the worst possible scenario? He gets in that house and kills somebody.”

That threat justified the deputies’ use of lethal force, he argued.

“It is time for closure,” Blair said. “We ask that you, ladies and gentlemen, consider that closure not only for Mrs. Glenn, but also for these two deputies.”

Deputy shot Lukus Glenn ‘because I was afraid people would die,’ he says at wrongful death trial

From The Oregonian, August 29, 2012

Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Timothy Mateski’s voice shook at times Wednesday during his testimony at the wrongful death trial of Lukus Glenn, the Metzger 18-year-old he fatally shot in 2006.

Armed with a pocketknife, Glenn was not complying with deputies’ commands to drop the knife Sept. 16 2006, Mateski said.

Their weapons pointed at the teen, deputies had no time to discuss a plan. But Mateski testified he had already made some decisions: If Glenn ran toward the woods, Mateski would watch him go. If the teen ran toward officers or the house, he’d open fire.

After saying this, Mateski paused. He looked down. Cleared his throat.

At his attorney’s suggestion, Mateski unscrewed the lid of the thermos next to him at the witness stand. He poured some water into a paper cup and screwed the lid back on until it squeaked. He exhaled. Drank. Paused.

“I didn’t want him to hurt anybody in the house,” he said.

Why did you think that was possible, his attorney asked.

“Uh, he said that he was going to kill himself, he threatened to harm his parents,” Mateski said. “And I couldn’t let him be in the house.”

He looked down, his hands folded in front of him.

“I continued to fire as I advanced up on him,” he said, his voice shaking.

Deputy Mikhail Gerba, a defendant along with Mateski and Washington County in a wrongful death lawsuit resulting from the shooting, testified after Mateski Wednesday morning.

Like Mateski, he said he was shocked when Glenn didn’t react after a Tigard police officer struck him with beanbag rounds.

“After he got hit with the beanbags, that’s when he focused in on the door where his parents were at, he still had the knife in his hand,” he told jurors.

Without discussion, he had arrived at the same decision as Mateski, Gerba said.

“It was so quick, he started to dart for it,” he testified. “I think I said, ‘No, no, no, no.’ That’s when I fired my gun. I wasn’t going to let him get in the house.”

He paused.

“Because I was afraid that people would die,” he said. “And if I would have allowed that, I don’t think I could live with myself.”

Witnesses testify in defense of deputies who fatally shot Lukus Glenn

From The Oregonian, August 29, 2012

To use a Taser on Lukus Glenn would have been too risky, according to testimony in defense of Washington County and two sheriff’s deputies, on trial in a wrongful death suit.

Jurors in U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman’s federal courtroom in Portland have heard hours of testimony on police training, tactics and use of force issues this week. Read highlights from some of that testimony below.

Witness: Andrew Pastore, Tigard police detective who shot Glenn with beanbag rounds before deputies opened live fire

Testimony: Pastore, a patrol officer at the time of the Sept. 16, 2006, shooting, responded to the call where deputies Mikhail Gerba and Timothy Mateski were yelling orders at the 18-year-old to drop the knife he was holding. Glenn was standing by the garage in front of his Metzger home, where he stayed until he’d been struck with beanbag rounds, Pastore said.

“He didn’t seem to be doing anything other than standing there,” he testified. “He had his right had up to his neck. I couldn’t see anything in his hand … until he turned … and I saw a flash of something metallic.”

The officers’ distance from Lukus Glenn, an issue first raised in the plaintiffs’ case, was again a focal point when Pastore took the witness stand.

In their statements to investigators soon after the shooting, Gerba estimated he was about 8 to 12 feet from Glenn, Mateski estimated his own distance to be 15 to 20 feet. Pastore told detectives he was behind the deputies and estimated his own distance from Glenn to be about 15 feet.

They later estimated their distances to be farther away.

While Gerba and Mateski were not armed with Tasers that day, Pastore did have one on his belt.

“I was aware that I had it,” he testified, “but the situation didn’t see appropriate for use of a Taser.”

After the shooting, Glenn fell facedown, halfway on the porch, Pastore said, with his hands underneath him. Glenn raised his upper body off the ground, Pastore said. He testified he saw something hit the side of the house, and he believed Glenn had thrown the knife. Glenn’s family and friends who witnessed the shooting testified previously that he fell with his hands empty, palms-up.

Witness: Rob Gordon, retired sheriff of Washington County

Gordon, who was sheriff at the time of the shooting, reviewed investigative materials compiled for an administrative review of the incident. In his assessment, he determined the deputies were properly trained and equipped and followed agency policies and procedures.

He told jurors he didn’t know if deputies were aware that Pastore, the Tigard officer, had a Taser with him. Even if they had known, the beanbag shotgun and lethal rounds were the appropriate uses of force, Gordon said.

“I don’t think the Taser would have been effective in this case,” he testified. “This had gone on for several minutes … there had been threats made by Lukus Glenn to his family, to his friends, to himself.”

Gordon testified that based on his administrative review, he believed Glenn was handcuffed after the shooting, a statement consistent with the testimony of Glenn’s father, Brad Glenn, who witnessed the shooting. Deputy Joseph Yazzolino, who responded to the scene just after the shooting, testified last week that Glenn was not handcuffed.

Witness: Michael Brave, litigation counsel at Taser International, expert on police practices and Taser use

Testimony: Shooting Glenn with beanbag rounds and live fire was the appropriate way of addressing the threat he posed to himself and others at the scene, Brave said. Using a Taser on Glenn would have been difficult because of he was not directly facing officers when struck with less-lethal force. He also told jurors that in high-stress situations, an officer can make mistakes changing the Taser cartridge and deploy the probes into his own hand.

Witness: William Lewinski, police psychology expert, founder and director of Force Science Research Institute, which studies officer behavior in use of force incidents

Testimony: Lewinski did not specifically address the Glenn shooting, but his testimony offered a potential explanation for why the deputies recalled different versions of events and later changed parts of their stories. In a study he conducted with police officers in the United Kingdom, Lewinski said he observed that under stress, officers made many errors when they recalled details that occurred in the “periphery.” In other words, in distressing situations, the officers narrowed their attention to focus on something important, losing sight of other things.

On cross-examination, Lewinski said his office will bill the defendants more than $13,000 for his testimony and work on the case.

Deputies’ shooting of Lukus Glenn was reasonable, psychologist testifies at wrongful death trial

From The Oregonian, August 28, 2012

Police did all they could before opening live fire and killing 18-year-old Lukus Glenn, a psychologist testified Monday at the wrongful death trial against Washington County and two sheriff’s deputies.

Attorneys representing the county and deputies Mikhail Gerba and Timothy Mateski, defendants in a wrongful death lawsuit resulting from the 2006 shooting of Glenn, presented evidence at trial Monday in federal court in Portland.

Michael Conner, a psychologist who has trained police in crisis intervention, told jurors the deputies’ actions at the 3 a.m. call outside Glenn’s Metzger home on Sept. 16, 2006, were reasonable and unavoidable.

“My opinion was what they did was necessary and that their options beyond that, there were really none,” he said.

Glenn was suicidal and showing anger and aggression, Conner testified. When people are suicidal and acting destructive and violent, he said, their thoughts can become homicidal “in a fraction of a second.”

“We have homicidal threats, we have a person who’s injured himself, destroyed property, has a knife to his neck, has threatened his family, has threatened to kill everybody, has threatened to run at the officers, has threatened, ‘You kill me or I kill me,” he said.

Communication tactics that officers might use in a calmer situation were not an option, he testified.

“This was an emergency,” he said. “It wasn’t a crisis.”

The only communication tactic they had was to say clearly and loudly, “Drop the knife, put the knife down and then we can talk,’” he said. “That’s a hard-line approach.”

Switching to a “soft-line approach,” he said, such as lowering their guns and asking Glenn to talk would have been too risky because the teen still may not have become more reasonable.

“I believe they did everything they could from the perspective of communication and to do anything else would have been to risk other people and themselves,” he said.

9-1-1 recordings reveal mistake during fatal shooting of teen

From KATU.com, August 2, 2012

The family of Lukus Glenn goes to court this month in its lawsuit over his death. His own mother called police for help that night. saying her son was suicidal and threatening their family. Investigator Anna Canzano examines the recordings from that chaotic scene, and the heartbreaking mistake they reveal.

Lukus Glenn had conquered high school as a three-sport varsity athlete, but on the night of September 15, 2006, he was lost and distraught. A long-time relationship had recently ended, and though his friends were headed to college, he was not.

By three in the morning, Lukus had returned home, drunk, dropped off by a friend. His family wouldn’t give him keys to a car, so he tried getting into a shed to get his dirt bike.

He then busts into the house through the front door, grabs this knife, and starts smashing car windows in the family’s driveway.

That’s when Hope Glenn calls 9-1-1.

Hope Glenn to 9-1-1: I need the cops to my house immediately. I have a son that’s out of control, busting our windows and has a knife and threatening us.

Police radio traffic reveals officers are preparing for a non-lethal confrontation, despite a dispatcher’s warning about Lukus’ threats as they head to the scene. One officer asked whether anyone with a bean bag gun was responding. Another officer says he grabbed one.

9-1-1 dispatcher to officers: Just be advised, he said he was going to run at you with a knife.

Once the officers arrive, the situation intensifies.

Officer: Get on the ground now, get on the ground.

Hope: He’s saying he kills himself or they kill him, he just wants to die tonight.

Less than four minutes later, the 9-1-1 call captures the Lukus’ final moments.

9-1-1 dispatcher: They don’t want to hurt him, they’re there trying to help.

Officer to dispatcher: Shots fire, I’ve got one down.

An officer on scene communicates this back to the dispatcher.

Officer to 9-1-1 dispatcher: Be advised, four beanbag rounds, no effect. He still has the knife. Be advised…we’ve got a couple people in the house. He ran towards the door, he’s on the ground, the knife is near him.

Which leads the dispatcher to comfort Hope with a mistaken relay of information, creating more confusion for the Glenn family about what’s actually happened.

9-1-1 dispatcher to Hope: Listen, what they’re doing is they shot him with bean bag rounds, okay?

Hope: But he’s laying on the ground bloody.

That exchange — that moment — is a key point of contention in the family’s lawsuit; why did that officer choose to communicate back that bean bag rounds were used, when he himself had just fired lethal rounds from his own service weapon? Was it an honest mistake? Confusion? Or was he trying to create a false narrative – that police tried to control Lukus Glenn with non-lethal force well before killing him with their bullets?

In the seconds that follow, it becomes clear, Hope’s only son is dying.

Police to dispatcher: We might need to get medical here, he’s probably had a couple shots to the back. We need medical code three, he took actual rounds. We’ve got shallow breathing, very shallow, slow breathing. Okay, he’s not breathing anymore.

A devastating reality no court ruling can undo.

Lukus’ mother is suing the Washington county sheriff’s office and its deputy. Trial is set to begin in three weeks. The officers involved have defended their actions – as being in line with their training – as actions taken to protect Lukus’ family given the threat he posed by turning and heading toward the home.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Rob Bletko later determined the use of deadly force was justified. None of the parties being sued agreed to comment for this report.

Lukus Glenn wrongful death trial opens in Portland’s federal court

From The Oregonian, August 21, 2012

Washington County deputies either acted appropriately according to their training or lied about events that led up to the fatal shooting six years ago of a Tigard-area teenager, according to opening arguments presented Tuesday in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Lukus Glenn.

The 18-year-old was shot and killed by Washington County sheriff’s deputies outside his home in 2006.

Attorneys introduced jurors to the federal court case by playing 9-1-1 and police dispatch tapes, recorded at 3:05 a.m. Sept. 16, 2006, when Hope Glenn called seeking help for her drunken, suicidal son.

In a roughly four-minute period, Hope Glenn tells the 9-1-1 operator her son is holding a knife, bleeding and threatening to kill himself. After law enforcement arrives, she pleads with the operator, “Please don’t let them shoot him.” By the end of the tape, her son is on the ground outside their Metzger home, and Hope Glenn says through tears, “They killed him.”

Deputies commanded Lukus Glenn to put down the blade he was holding to his neck. They told him not to move any closer to the house, where his parents stood just inside.

A Tigard police officer struck Glenn with five beanbag rounds. Deputies Timothy Mateski and Mikhail Gerba then opened fire, killing the teen almost instantly.

The Washington County District Attorney’s Office ruled the shooting justified and did not present it to a grand jury. After the Glenn family filed suit seeking more than $7 million, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman granted summary judgment in favor of the county and the deputies.

On appeal, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the district court was not allowed to act as fact-finder on summary judgment and a jury should decide the case against the county and two deputies.

Attorney Larry Peterson, representing the family, said in his opening statements Tuesday the audio recording helped disprove the deputies’ “false narrative” about the incident.

Peterson said a Tigard police officer began firing rounds from a beanbag shotgun, but Gerba and Mateski had fired 11 lethal rounds before the last of six beanbags were shot.

The trial will answer the questions, Peterson said, of what happened in the minutes before Glenn’s death and why.

William Blair, attorney for the defendants, said in his opening statements that the deputies acted reasonably and followed their training when they shot the teen with lethal rounds to gain control of the scene.

The deputies agree, he said, that Lukus Glenn was not responsive when struck with beanbags.

“He stood there with a quizzical look on his face,” Blair said, “and then began charging toward the front door, where his parents stood with no protection because he’d already kicked in the door.”

The trial will center on analyzing the audio tapes, Blair said, which would support and explain the deputies’ actions. He urged jurors several times to “listen carefully.”

The trial before Judge Mosman continues Wednesday with witness testimony.

Friends of Lukus Glenn testify they hoped to calm deputies before his fatal shooting

From The Oregonian, August 22, 2012

Friends of Lukus Glenn, who witnessed deputies shoot and kill him outside his Metzger home in 2006, testified at his wrongful death trial in Portland’s federal court Wednesday.

Trial in the lawsuit filed against Washington County and two of its deputies continues Thursday before U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman.

Wednesday morning jurors heard from David Lucas, 25, and Tony Morales, 28, the friends Hope Glenn called in the early morning hours of Sept. 16, 2006, asking for help with her suicidal son.

Glenn wasn’t threatening others, they testified, when he was holding the small folding knife Lucas had given to him as a Christmas gift. They were not afraid of their friend and feared only that he might hurt himself.

Lucas and Morales had both spent time with Glenn the day before his death, noting that he seemed happy. The 18-year-old, recently graduated from Tigard High School, went to dinner with his new girlfriend and her parents that evening. The couple then went to a football game with Morales. Glenn, Lucas and Morales ended up at a party later that night.

Glenn arrived at the party with a bottle of rum and drank from it throughout the night, his friends testified. He left the party, planning to get his motorbike from home, asking someone else to drive him there — five minutes away.

Soon after, his mother called Lucas and Morales, hoping they could help calm him down. Glenn was telling his parents he wanted his bike or his keys. He was smashing windows and acting out of control, Hope Glenn told Lucas.

Lucas testified that he spoke to Glenn’s parents briefly when he arrived. Morales was already talking to Glenn in the neighbor’s yard, speaking softly, convincing him to leave the yard.

Both friends said they didn’t see a knife until Glenn returned to his family’s driveway, pulled it from his pocket and stabbed the garage door.

Glenn yelled at his parents, Lucas testified, “about something he’d been put through in the last few months,” and about wanting to die.

Glenn’s father, Morales and Glenn tussled briefly over the knife. As Glenn shoved the knife harder toward his own neck, they let go.

Morales, who had recently been honorably discharged after more than three years in the Marines, began negotiating with Glenn.

“I remember walking forward, outstretching my arms, saying to Luke, ‘If you’re going to stab anyone tonight, stab me. I know you don’t want to do that,’” Morales said.

Morales sank to his knees, he told jurors, and pleaded with Glenn, “I know you don’t want to hurt me as much as you don’t want to hurt yourself. Just put the knife away.”

Pausing as he became more emotional, Morales recalled Glenn’s response: “Tony, please, I don’t want you to be here for this.”

Morales replied, “Come on, bro, if I were in the exact same situation, you wouldn’t just leave me like this.”

Just after 3 a.m., Deputy Mikhail Gerba arrived, dispatched to the disturbance with a weapon reported to 9-1-1 by Hope Glenn. Lucas walked quickly toward the deputy, hoping to keep the situation calm, he testified.

Before Lucas reached him, Gerba stepped out of his vehicle with his gun drawn, Lucas said. He tried to tell Gerba that Glenn was by the garage and calming down, Lucas said.

Gerba ordered him to the ground, Lucas said, using profanities. He patted Lucas down and told him not to move as he approached the driveway.

Morales, still kneeling, heard shouting behind him. Gerba walked up the driveway, his duty weapon pointed at Glenn and Morales.

Gerba told Morales to get on the ground. Morales said he lay on his stomach and told the deputy Glenn was drunk and only wanted to hurt himself. He asked Gerba not to use lethal force.

Soon, Deputy Timothy Mateski arrived and joined Gerba’s side. Deputies shouted profanity-laced commands at Glenn, the friends testified. Glenn’s only response, they said, was, “Why are you yelling at me?”

Morales asked the deputies to “please just tase him.” Mateski told Morales to shut up, he said.

After a few minutes of the deputies shouting at Glenn to drop the knife, the friends watched him die.

They first saw another officer hit Glenn with a shotgun beanbag round. Glenn doubled over, took a couple of steps toward the house and grabbed his waistband with his left hand, as if trying to hold up his pants.

Beanbag rounds continued to fly and the deputies opened live fire. Within 11 seconds, Glenn was struck with five beanbag rounds and eight gunshots.

Lucas testified that Glenn had never mentioned suicide to him. Morales said he asked Glenn about suicide after he’d noticed bands that appeared to cover up cuts on his wrists.

Lucas said he knew that Glenn had recently broken up with a previous girlfriend, and he’d had some conflicts with one of his high school football coaches.

“I think it was just kind of weighing on him that summer,” Lucas testified.

Fatal shooting of Lukus Glenn not justified, expert witness testifies at wrongful death trial

From The Oregonian, August 23, 2012

Lukus Glenn

The lethal force police used on 18-year-old Lukus Glenn in 2006 was not justified, a police practices expert testified Wednesday in Portland’s federal court.

Donald Van Blaricom, a retired Bellevue, Wash., police chief who now works testifying in police-related litigation, appeared for the plaintiffs at the wrongful death trial against Washington County and two of its deputies.

Glenn’s family filed the lawsuit in 2008, following his Sept. 16, 2006, fatal shooting outside his Metzger home. The trial before U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman began Tuesday.

Police should have used a Taser instead of a beanbag shotgun and lethal force on the suicidal teen, Van Blaricom testified.

Though Glenn was armed with a small folding knife and was not following deputies’ commands, Van Blaricom said he was not posing an immediate threat to anyone at the scene.

Instead of trying to establish a dialogue with Glenn, Van Blaricom said, the deputies acted too quickly.

“The police are there to win, they’re not there to lose,” he told jurors.

But the force used on a subject has to a reasonable response to the circumstances, Van Blaricom said.

“If you were going to use any force,” he said, “the Taser would be the force to use.”

Van Blaricom testified he didn’t believe Glenn committed “suicide by cop.” The teen didn’t rush at officers, giving them no alternative but to use lethal force, he said.

The Washington County District Attorney’s Office ruled the shooting justified in 2006, but Van Blaricom criticized the investigation of the shooting and said it did not resolve inconsistencies.

“If you’ve got a bad shooting, just admit it, learn from it,” he said. “The guy’s dead, there’s nothing you can do for him. The goal is to prevent this from happening again.”

Washington County Sheriff Pat Garrett was in the courtroom during the expert witnesses’ testimony Wednesday.

Lukus Glenn’s parents testify at wrongful death trial in the 2006 fatal police shooting

From The Oregonian, August 24, 2012

Lukus Glenn’s parents watched as police pelted the 18-year-old with beanbag rounds and riddled him with gunshots. When his body landed on their porch, they stared in horror through a picture window.

Brad and Hope Glenn, who are suing Washington County and two of its deputies over the 2006 fatal shooting, gave emotional testimony in his wrongful death trial this week in Portland’s federal court.

Brad Glenn, 49, told jurors he instructed his wife to dial 9-1-1 about 3 a.m. Sept. 16, 2006, as they struggled to talk sense into their son, who was drunk, holding a pocket knife and threatening suicide.

“We need more people here,” he testified. “We need more assistance.”

Sheriff’s Deputy Mikhail Gerba was screaming commands and pointing his Glock when he approached the teen outside the family’s Metzger home, Brad Glenn testified. Deputy Timothy Mateski showed up next.

Brad Glenn said the deputies shouted at his son, “‘Drop the knife, you’re going to (expletive) die, we’re going to (expletive) kill you,’ over and over.”

His son asked the deputies to stop yelling.

“At one time, I told them to stop screaming at him,” he said. “Luke was begging us to make them stop screaming at him.”

Deputies had to order the parents to go into the house and close the door several times. Asked why he and his wife didn’t comply and stay inside, Brad Glenn said they were acting in response to the deputies’ actions.

“In my mind, they were out of control,” he said. “That’s how you respond to a suicidal kid, tell him you’re going to kill him? That’s wrong.”

Brad Glenn said he didn’t see another officer arrive, but a Tigard police officer with a beanbag shotgun joined the scene.

“He just popped out and started firing,” Brad Glenn said. “He’s getting shot with the beanbags … and it knocks him into the garage. He’s up against the garage, taking the hits.”

His son grabbed onto his pants and took a couple steps, he testified. The deputies fired live rounds, he said, just after the Tigard officer deployed the first beanbag shots.

“It all happened at the same time,” he said. “You could hear a few pops and then it was over.”

Lukus Glenn fell facedown, his hands palms-up behind him, Brad Glenn said. An officer approached the dying teen, still at gunpoint, and handcuffed him, he said.

More officers descended on the house after the shooting, Brad Glenn testified. They stayed for hours. It was daylight when they left.

“The last person there was a chaplain for Washington County,” he said. “They basically just left the place a mess with blood all over the place. There was blood all over the porch — it was everywhere.”

In the following days, he and Hope Glenn were distraught.

“It’s hard to explain,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. It shouldn’t have happened.”

Their lives changed that day, he said. Their house is empty. The lifetime companionship he envisioned with his son is gone.

The emotional toll continues, unchanging, he said.

Of her husband, Hope Glenn testified, “He’s broken like I am.”

Crying, she told the jury, “We’re just sad. It never goes away.”

From the Portland Mercury, August 21, 2012 – by Denis Theriault

As noted in yesterday’s post about the Portland Police Bureau’s new Training Advisory Council, I’m still waiting on more details about how public—or not—the citizen panel will be. A posting seeking applicants didn’t mention whether the group’s four meetings a year would be open to observers.

Meanwhile, the same posting said anyone who is chosen will have to sign a “nondisclosure agreement.” Lieutenant Robert King, a police bureau spokesman, told me he didn’t think the NDA was written yet, when I asked for a copy, but he also said he didn’t know exactly what it might try to limit.

These aren’t insignificant questions. If the group’s meetings are going to be private, and if the group’s members won’t be allowed to talk about their work with neighbors, reporters, and other advocates, then it’s fair to ask whether the council is going to be a meaningful tool for improving community-police relations or another piece of window-dressing filled with handpicked cheerleaders from, say, the Citizens Crime Commission.

Since then, I’ve heard from Jason Renaud of the Mental Health Association of Portland, a longtime observer and critic of police training practices, especially concerning the bureau’s efforts to limit the use of deadly force against the mentally ill. Renaud emailed a strong warning about the chill an NDA would have on community dialogue and urged like-minded advocates to stay away if silence is really going to be part of the arrangement. I’ve also heard similar concerns raised by sources in city hall.

Advocates speak out AND carry the response to the community they represent. People who do one but not the other are simply self-appointed pretenders. They are not advocates.

You can’t communicate to the community you represent—you can’t be a community representative—when silenced by a non-disclosure agreement. The intention of a NDA is to silence actual advocates; requiring one from a community advisory council underlines that the PPB and the city are still in public relation/spin mode, obtuse and arrogant.

With a NDA we do not endorse this Training Council and would not encourage anyone to participate.

As always, I’ll update when I hear back. I hope, though, that the bureau and the mayor’s office are thinking hard about these concerns. Meetings should be open to the public. And the NDA should either be scrapped or crafted to be sufficiently and objectively narrow enough (not giving away state secrets, etc.) so as not to stifle a genuine community discussion about police training.

Summary: On August 15, 2012 Michael Justin Evans was shot and killed by Gladstone police officers in front of his home. Police knew Evans was a person with a mental illness.

Man dead in officer-involved shooting in Gladstone

From the Oregonian, August 15, 2012

The incident took place about 10:30 p.m. in the 300 block of West Fairfield Street.

Gladstone police have said little about the shooting so far. Officers were responding to a report of a domestic disturbance when the shooting took place.

The department asked the Clackamas County Major Crimes Team to investigate the shooting.

Gladstone man killed by police had mental health problem, friend says

From the Oregonian, August 15, 2012

The man fatally shot by police late Tuesday has been identified by a family friend as Michael Justin Evans.

Evans had mental health and substance abuse problems, said Michelle Darnell, 46, the longtime girlfriend of Evans’ father. Darnell lives in Gladstone, not far from where Evans was shot in an encounter with police.

Darnell said Evans’ father, Dean Evans, left home late Tuesday to smoke a cigarette with his son. When he arrived, she said, “all that commotion was going on.”

“The cops shot my son!” he told her in a phone call from the scene on West Fairfield Street. “The cops shot my son.”

Said Darnell: “He was freaking out, which is understandable.”

She said Michael Evans lived with his maternal grandmother. She said he was out of work.

Darnell and Dean Evans were smoking cigarettes about 10:30 p.m. when they heard what sounded like four gunshots in the neighborhood.

Jennifer Lee, Michael Evans’ next-door neighbor, thought she heard three gunshots from her living room, where she sleeps with her son. She said police later told her it was four.

“I thought he was a nice kid,” she said. “My husband would loan him tools when he needed it.”

The neighborhood was quiet early this morning. An orange outline of a body was spray-painted on the front lawn of the house where Evans lived.

Another longtime friend said Evans joined AA at age 14, and had a long list of arrests. Jim Reynolds, 22, said police had been to Evans’ house dozens of times.

“They all knew his first, middle and last name,” Reynolds said. “They knew he was a mentally ill kid.”

Reynolds said Evans’ confrontations are usually “intense,” but not violent.

“I don’t know why they had to shoot him four times,” Reynolds said.

1 dead after Gladstone police respond to domestic disturbance

From KGW.com, August 15, 2012

A man was shot and died after police officers responded to a report of a domestic disturbance about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Officers were dispatched to the 300 block of W. Fairfield. The name of the dead man, 23, was not released because relatives have not been notified.

Gladstone police asked the Clackamas County Major Crimes Team to investigate the shooting. No other information was released.

A neighbor who lives a few houses down from the shooting scene said he heard five shots fired. A second heard four shots.

A man who said he was the father of the deceased told KGW that he had some issues but should not have been shot dead by police.

Father of man killed by police: ‘He had some problems’

From KATU.com, August 15, 2012

A 23-year-old man is dead after an officer-involved shooting Tuesday night, according to the Gladstone Police Department.

Police said they responded to the 300 block of West Fairfield by Beatrice on a domestic disturbance call just after 10:30 p.m. They said shortly after their arrival shots were fired and the man was killed.

Dean Michael Evans, who identified himself as the victim’s father, told KATU News shortly after the shooting that his son was depressed and talked of dying by suicide-by-cop prior to the shooting.

“He had depression. He had some problems. But he didn’t deserve this,” Evans said. “I just don’t see my son causing this kind of a problem, where they had to shoot him.”

Evans said his son had a knife and was just looking for his phone when he was shot.

He said he didn’t think police had to shoot and kill his son and said they could have just shot him in the leg or some other non-vital area. Evans said he did not know specifically what led to the shooting when he spoke to KATU News.

He said he was on his way over to visit his son before the shooting.

One neighbor, Liz Nass, told KATU News “we heard four loud bangs” and a friend said it sounded like gunshots. Moments later, she said they saw several cars rushing to the sxcene.

Deputies with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office and the Gladstone Police Department were on scene investigating the shooting Wednesday morning but cleared the scene at about 6 a.m.

Friends and neighbors, police records of Gladstone man shot by police paint conflicting pictures

From the Oregonian, August 15, 2012

Jim Reynolds showed up just after 7 a.m. to examine the orange spray-painted outline of the body of his lifelong friend Michael Justin Evans of Gladstone.

He parked at the end of the quiet block, filled with families and vacant homes, and walked to the house Evans shared with his maternal grandmother.

Reynolds looked calm, staring at the outline in the front yard, but his voice sounded angry when he saw the bloody patch of grass in the neck area of the outline.

“I don’t know why they had to shoot him four times,” Reynolds said, bitterly.

Gladstone Police responded to a domestic disturbance call before 11 p.m. Tuesday. Evans, 23, confronted officers with a knife, said Gladstone Police Chief Jim Pryde.

Two police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is under investigation by the Clackamas County Major Crimes Team. The officers’ names were not released.

Reynolds, 22, said he and Evans became friends at the age of 6. Evans struggled with mental illness and addiction his whole life, according to friends and neighbors. Reynolds said he joined Alcoholics Anonymous at 14.

“He’s been begging for help for many, many years,” Reynolds said.

Evans has a long list of run-ins and police often showed up at the house on the 300 block of West Fairfield Street in Gladstone. Reynolds said police were there just a couple of days ago because Evans was suspected of drug possession.

But Reynolds refused to believe Evans was a threat.

“Of course he’d come out screaming and yelling, but he’s harmless,” Reynolds said.

Next-door neighbor Jennifer Lee said Evans was a nice kid, and she was surprised by what happened.

“My husband would loan him tools when he needed it,” she said.

The porch light of the house was still on as the sun rose, illuminating Reynolds’ hat lightly as he stared at orange-and-blood-stained grass.

“It’s so young,” Reynolds said. “And (he’s) been begging for help for 10 years.”

However, Evans had a history of domestic disturbances and several previous run-ins with the law.

A Clackamas County judge issued a restraining order against him in March after his girlfriend, Chelsey Lynn Stoughton, 22, of Gladstone petitioned the court.

Meanwhile, when he was killed, Evans still was on probation from 2011 convictions for attempting to elude a police officer, a Class C felony, and reckless driving, a Class A misdemeanor. Evans served seven days in jail as part of his sentence.

He also was on probation from contempt-of-court conviction last month.

Evans was cited for contempt of court in June, but the charge was dismissed.

Gladstone Police: Man killed by officer had knife

From KOIN.com, August 16, 2012

A 23-year-old man was killed late Tuesday night after police responded to a domestic disturbance. By Wednesday, Gladstone Police were saying the man who died was armed with a knife, which led to shots being fired by officers.

The timeline

The officer-involved shooting happened shortly after 10:30 p.m. in the 300 block of West Fairview in Gladstone, emergency dispatchers said.

Specific details of the shooting were not immediately released, but a spokesperson for the police department issued a statement early Wednesday morning that said:

“On 08/14/12 at about 10:31 pm officers responded to the 300 block of W. Fairfield for a domestic disturbance. Shortly thereafter shots were fired. A 23 year old male is deceased and his identification is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Clackamas County Major Crimes Team is conducting the investigation at the request of the Gladstone Police Department. No further details will be released at this time do to the nature of the ongoing investigation.”

A man who identified himself as the father of the young man shot and killed told a KOIN-TV his son was depressed and may have wanted to be killed by officers.

The man said that he was visiting his son to check on him.

Police said the case will eventually be turned over to the District Attorney’s Office for review. This is standard procedure following an officer-involved shooting.

Around 11:40 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15, the Gladstone Police Department released the following statement:

“The investigation by the Clackamas County Major Crimes Team continues regarding the officer-involved shooting in Gladstone last night around 10:35 p.m. in the 300 block of West Fairfield. Witness accounts report the decedent was armed with a knife.

“Two Gladstone police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave in accordance with department policy. As the investigation continues, we hope to have an updated press release this afternoon.”

By the time of KOIN’s noon newscast Aug. 15, the following information had become clear:

Family and friends of 23 year old Michael Justin Evans say he was a troubled young man with a) a history of mental health issues and b) run-ins with police. Evans was shot and killed by Gladstone police Tuesday night, after they responded to reports of a domestic disturbance. Police and witnesses say he had a knife in his hand.

“It’s very sad,” said his father Dean Evans. “He was my oldest son, [and I] didn’t get a chance to talk to him since Thursday.”

Police are still not saying much about the circumstances leading up to the shooting. However, friends of Evans wonder if shooting and killing his son was warranted.

“To me, there could have been another way to handle it,” said David LaFore, a friend of the victim. “You know, I don’t care whether he had a knife or not.”

Meanwhile, a next door neighbor — who didn’t want to be identified — says one of the bullets hit the wall of her home, on the other side of her daughter’s bedroom.

“That’s my five-year-old daughter,” she points out, “and there’s a bullet hole in the side of our house that could have easily hit her.”

A memorial grows outside the home as the investigation into what happened continues.

Again, both Gladstone officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Gladstone man killed in police confrontation had history of addiction, mental illness, menacing behavior

From the Oregonian, August 15, 2012

The knife-wielding man shot and killed Tuesday in a confrontation with Gladstone police had a history of erratic, menacing behavior, addiction and attempted suicide.

Michael Justin Evans, 23, was fatally shot by one of two Gladstone police officers dispatched around 10:30 p.m. to investigate a report that Evans was tearing apart the home he shared with his grandmother, Judie K. Reich, in the 300 block of West Fairfield Street.

On Wednesday, the orange spray-paint outline of his body remained on the sun-burned front lawn where he died.

Gladstone Police Chief Jim Pryde said one of the officers “fired multiple rounds and Mr. Evans died at the scene.” No other details were released.

The two officers, Steve Mixson and Christopher Spore, have been placed on paid administrative leave while the case is investigated by the Clackamas County Major Crimes Team.

Those who know Evans said he led a troubled life gripped by mental illness and substance abuse, occasionally twisting him into someone unrecognizable.

According to Clackamas County 9-1-1 records, police were dispatched to his home 10 times in the past 20 months to investigate domestic disturbances, criminal mischief, noise complaints, suicide attempts and threats.

A former girlfriend filed for a restraining order against Evans five months ago, describing him as emotionally unstable.

“He has mental problems and cannot control himself,” Chelsey Lynn Stoughton, 22, wrote in her petition. “I am very scared because he is so unpredictable.”

Stoughton alleged that at various times, beginning in the fall of 2011, Evans stalked her, punched her, pushed her against a wall, held her by the throat, threatened to rape her in her sleep and threatened to kill them both by crashing their car.

“Mike takes medication that alters his thinking and at the time (of an assault) was on methadone because of heroin addiction,” Stoughton wrote.

She said Evans attempted suicide several times.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Stoughton declined to comment.

When he was killed, Evans still was on probation from 2011 convictions for attempting to elude a police officer, a Class C felony, and reckless driving, a Class A misdemeanor. Evans served seven days in jail as part of his sentence.

He also was on probation from a conviction last month for contempt of court.

A neighbor said Evans often drove too fast through the neighborhood, tearing around sharp turns at 50 mph without checking for children, the elderly or pets.

“It was scary sometimes,” he said.

Michelle Darnell, 46, said she and Dean Evans — Michael Evans’ father — were smoking cigarettes at her nearby home about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday when they heard what sounded like four gunshots. Dean Evans then went over to his son’s nearby home.

He arrived to find “all this commotion” and called Darnell, yelling, “The cops shot my son! The cops shot my son!”

“He was freaking out, which is understandable,” Darnell said.

Evans’ case is the latest in a growing number of incidents involving police and the mentally ill in recent years.

Officers dispatched to his home should have been advised of Evans’ history of attempted suicide and mental illness, but Gladstone police declined to provide a detailed accounting of events leading up to the shooting. They also declined to provide information about mental health protocols and training the department provides.

But in cases where an armed person confronts officers, force escalates quickly.

Sgt. Adam Phillips, Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said officers’ first obligation is to prevent threats from getting out of hand.

“Our loose rule of thumb is that a person, from a dead stop, can cover 21 feet in about 1 1/2 seconds,” he said. “That doesn’t give you much time to react.”