Mental Health Association of Portland

By Saundra Sorenson, Portland Tribune, Jan. 3, 2013

James Bastin (L), with Gerry Pruyn, director of Jubilee House

Asking to be identified only as Allen, the 53-year-old occasional Tualatin resident works hard to keep up appearances.

Well-coiffed, smartly dressed in a blazer over a sweater, Allen doesn’t have the look of a man who lives in his car and depends on the facilities at the Sherwood YMCA to maintain his hygiene regimen.

Once securely employed in construction, Allen was laid off more than two years ago. He has family in the area. When his unemployment benefits ran out, he moved to Arizona for six months to live with his parents and save money.

“Relatives and friends are there for you, but unfortunately they can’t give you what you need the most, because they don’t have that themselves,” he said.

Back in Oregon, Allen could find only sporadic work. He was soon living in a van donated by a local church, and now lives out of a sedan.

It is a lifestyle he describes as “playing Zorro.”

“I feel like I’m putting on a show for everybody else,” Allen said. “There’s a hidden world that you don’t want nobody to know.”

It’s a life of hyper-vigilance: Allen estimates he averages about three hours of sleep a night, and he has lost so much weight his pant size has gone from 36 to 31 inches.

Living in a car, “you’re constantly worried about that (knock) on the window,” he said, adding that Tigard, Tualatin and Sherwood police have for the most part been compassionate to his plight.

For a man who grew up solidly middle-class, Allen quickly became savvy about the logistics of living out of a vehicle.

“If you have a car, if you want to feel safe and secure, you want to be in well-lit areas,” Allen explained. “You never, ever want to spend the night at a rest area off a freeway. There’s too much (illicit activity) that goes on there.”

Walmart parking lots have proven a safe bet, he said, and the lots of businesses that are open 24 hours are safest of all because there are always people present. Even with the social stigma around homelessness, you never want to be physically isolated, Allen explained.

But even living out of his car has at times proven a logistical paradox: He nearly lost his car insurance when his provider learned he didn’t have a residential address.

Allen identifies as a new kind of homeless demographic.

“People like myself, there’s a lot of them out there. You’re not going to find them because they don’t want to show themselves,” he said.

Single male majority

Single men represent 56 percent of the total homeless population in Washington County, and 39 percent of those living on the street. Without children, they are also the demographic for whom there are the fewest shelter resources available.

There is the Bridges to Change Mentor House in Hillsboro, which works with the county’s Department of Housing Services to offer a 90-day rehabilitation program geared toward both men and women recently paroled from prison. Fairhaven Recovery Home is a Christian nonprofit that offers transitional facilities for those attempting to overcome addiction.

But beds are limited for those like Allen, homeless, but with no legal or substance abuse obstacles — resources can seem scant.

Churches and faith-based organizations attempt to bridge the gap by offering seasonal shelters and warming centers. Rolling Hills Community Church in Tualatin offers shelter every Wednesday during winter, according to community global outreach director Faith Carter. Homeless guests are invited from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. the following morning, during which time they can access the food pantry, take hot showers and wash their clothes.

“When Washington County declares severe weather, we open every night,” Carter added.

This requires a flexible volunteer base to run the shelter: Rolling Hills aims to provide one volunteer for every five guests, and the facility can comfortably accommodate more than 20 people, Carter said.

More of its guests now own vehicles, Carter has noticed. They are in situations similar to Allen’s: Accustomed to the stable home base that comes with gainful employment, but unable to find consistent work.

“The profile of homelessness is changing — we have the working poor, they have a job, they have a car, they don’t have a place to live,” Carter said.

Allen himself came to Rolling Hills to take advantage of the Tualatin Food Pantry housed there. He said he was at first reluctant to take advantage of charity.

“I have a sense of pride. I’m Irish,” Allen said. “It was difficult to think of going to a food bank. I humbled myself.”

With the food pantry as his entry point, Allen found immense comfort in the church, he said. Having lost his apartment, savings and a relationship as a result of his homelessness, he admits he was at one point suicidal.

As county and church organizations work together to address a growing need, Allen’s has proven a success story. He began taking advantage of Rolling Hills’ weekly shelter night, and one evening found himself opening up to a shelter volunteer who he later found out was the church’s senior pastor, Bill Town.

Meanwhile, volunteers provided resume help and a strengthened network during Allen’s job search.

Homelessness and the law

Within the Tualatin Police Department, Sgt. Larry Clow is known for keeping a casual count of homeless camps throughout Tualatin. But even in the face of “the new homelessness,” Clow said, these are not organized colonies made to address a harsh economic reality.

According to Clow, most camps — like the one that exists in a ravine near Warm Springs Road, or the odd gathering under bridges — are abandoned during the day. They are primarily populated by men, he said, with a few “transient women.” Although there are no official statistics available from Tualatin police, Clow said that in his experience, the homeless individuals he finds camping within Tualatin city limits are “longtime homeless transients.”

“It’s not the person that is just down on their luck,” he said.

He describes the contributing factors to this particular homeless population as “a mixed bag” — some grapple with unaddressed mental health issues, some abuse illegal drugs and some are homeless as a lifestyle choice.

According to the 2011 One Night Homeless Count that tallied a total of 1,354 homeless countywide, individual adult men accounted for 30 percent of the county’s homeless population, versus individual adult women, who comprised 9.8 percent. Single men also made up the majority of the street-dwelling homeless population not getting access to social services, at 35 percent.

In Washington County, 189 individuals were classified as “chronically homeless,” which is defined federally as anyone who has been homeless for a year or more, or who has been homeless at least four times in the last three years. A chronically homeless individual is seen as struggling with substance abuse or addiction issues, a developmental or physical disability, mental illness or a chronic illness.

Eighty-two percent of those identified as chronically homeless in the county were adult men.

Transitional opportunities

In Tigard, the 1,600-square-foot home is indistinguishable from other single-story, ranch-style homes. For nearly four years it has housed single men who have struggled with addiction issues in the past, or who have a felony conviction in their background.

At the Jubilee Transition House, residents must have 30 days of sobriety, director Gerry Pruyn explained. “They have to do two things: They have to be appreciative of a place to stay, and want to change their lives.”

Although about 75 percent of Jubilee House’s residents have had substance abuse issues, some, like James Bastin, 22, are struggling with simply getting back on their feet after personal and financial setbacks. Bastin turned to LifeWorks NW, a mental health resource center, after returning to his native Oregon earlier this year. He was unable to find steady work, and living with his grandmother proved to be a fraught situation. No one else in his family could afford to take him in, so he left his grandmother’s home with no place to go.

Bastin stayed in Portland-area shelters for a couple days before he was referred to Jubilee House. In his first week there, he has found comfort in the house’s stability. At the shelters, he said, addiction issues were rampant and many of the adults around him were constantly under the influence. At Jubilee, he feels more able to focus on his goals of finding full-time work and an apartment of his own.

Potential residents undergo what Pruyn described as a “tight interview process,” then have a probationary first month at the house where they work closely with a manager. If both Jubilee and the individual decide the house is a good fit, Jubilee charges a monthly fee of $440 for room and board, and the resident is invited to stay for up to 18 months while he tries to secure work and permanent housing.

There is a religious aspect to this regimen too, with regular Bible study. But Pruyn said Jubilee welcomes those of all faiths, or no faith.

Jubilee’s approach is case by case. Currently, one of its residents is serving time in jail for a probation violation. Because the violation was not alcohol- or drug-related, and because Jubilee views him as committed to his goals at the house, the resident will be welcomed back to the facility upon his release, Pruyn said.

Pruyn admits Jubilee has had to revise its screening process, which has meant acknowledging the organization’s own limitations in aiding a homeless population with mental illnesses.

He hopes that within the year, Jubilee House in Tigard will have proven itself as a duplicable model — one that can serve a broader population.

“When we first started, it was basically single homeless men in the community, because there’s things for women with children, and families, but nothing for single homeless men,” Pruyn said. “In the meantime, I’ve met a lot of single homeless women who have the same type of path that the men have had, that end up on the streets here in Washington County.”

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.

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.”

Aloha man fatally shot by Washington County deputies

From KGW.com, July 8, 2012

Deputies in Washington County fatally shot a man they said was armed with a rifle Saturday night in Aloha.

Several 911 callers reported a man with a gun wandering around on SW 195th Avenue, near SW Farmington Road, according to Sgt. David Thompson of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

“I looked out and sure enough there’s a guy standing there with a rifle,” neighbor Jim Briggs told KGW. “I watched him walk up and down the street a couple of times with it, so I went upstairs and called.”

The man was still there when deputies got there.

“At least two deputies arrived on the scene and encountered a 54-year-old man armed with a rifle,” Thompson said. “Within a few minutes of their arrival, two of the deputies fired at the armed suspect.”

Briggs said the man actually pointed his rifle at the deputies.

“He was standing behind this car,” Briggs said. “He pointed the gun at them and I heard two shots.”

Jeffery David Anderson, 56, of Aloha, was taken to a Portland hospital, where he died Sunday morning from injuries suffered in the shooting.

The deputies involved were placed on administrative leave. Additional details on the shooting were not available.

Washington Co. deputies fatally shoot man in Aloha

From KOIN.com

A man was shot by two Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies Saturday night in Aloha after reports the man had been walking down the street with a gun.

Officials said Jeffery David Anderson, 56, from Aloha, died Sunday morning at OHSU from his injuries.

Washington County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, Sgt. Dave Thompson, said at 8:13 p.m. Saturday night calls started coming in about a man walking down Southwest 195th Avenue near Farmington Road in Aloha toting a gun.

Thompson said deputies were on scene within a few minutes and made contact with Anderson.

“It’s a warm night, this guy’s walking around with a gun and obviously we got a lot of phone calls about it,“ Thompson said.

Neighbors tell KOIN Local 6 they heard several gunshots follow by deputies telling them to stay inside their homes.

A witness said the deputies shot the man after he ignored their commands.

Officials would only confirm two deputies had been involved in the shooting, and said the suspect was the only one injured.

Thompson said the suspect was taken to OHSU but did not know his condition Saturday night.

Aloha man who was killed by deputies had aimed rifle at officers, a neighbor says

From the Oregonian, July 8, 2012

An Aloha man shot and killed by two Washington County sheriff’s deputies was described as unstable by a neighbor Sunday.

Jim Briggs called 9-1-1 Saturday night after a passing motorcyclist told Briggs’ mother-in-law to go inside Briggs’ house because the motorcyclist had seen a man carrying a gun down Southwest 195th Avenue. Others in the neighborhood had also called 9-1-1 about the man.

After securing his children in the back of the house, Briggs watched out his glass front door as his neighbor, Jeffery David Anderson, sat on the curb across from Briggs’ house and pointed a rifle toward cars driving along Southwest 195th Avenue south of Farmington Road.

He said Anderson, 56, who lived two doors down on the same side of the street, was talking to himself and seemed drunk. Then he saw Anderson aim the rifle at an area where neighborhood kids normally play in the road, although Briggs could not tell whether children were present.

At one point, Anderson sat down and took apart what Briggs described as an assault rifle with a banana clip, and then put it back together.

Deputies responded to Briggs’ call around 8:13 p.m., and according to police, several deputies arrived on the scene and confronted Anderson.

Within a few minutes of the deputies’ arrival, Briggs said, Anderson took aim at them, and two officers fired back.

Briggs said he heard the shots, which he described as “pops,” and saw Anderson lying on his back in the street.

He said the general feeling in his family was the man was “someone you didn’t want to mess with.”

He said Anderson would make “grumbling” noises at Briggs’ wife whenever she walked the dogs past his house.

After Anderson was shot he was taken to OHSU Hospital, where he died early Sunday, according to the Multnomah County medical examiner’s office.

The two deputies who shot Anderson were placed on paid administrative leave, according to Sgt. David Thompson, a Washington County sheriff’s spokesman.

Thompson declined further comment on the case, and said detectives and the county’s district attorney’s office will continue to investigate the incident.

Neighbor: Man shot by deputies was suffering from mental issues

From KATU.com, July 8, 2012

A 56-year-old man shot by Washington County sheriff’s deputies later died of his injuries.

Jeffery David Anderson, of Aloha, died Sunday morning at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) after he had been shot Saturday night.

The incident began around 8:15 p.m. on Southwest 195th Avenue, just south of Farmington Road.

Deputies had responded there on a report of a man with a gun and within a few minutes of their arrival, they fired at the armed suspect.

No further details about what transpired in those minutes have been released but neighbors said the man had been threatening people.

“(He was) walking down the road with a rifle with a big clip and supposedly pointing the rifle at children,” said Ricky Glen, who lives in the area. “Very disturbed, obviously, shouting out different kinds of things.”

“They were telling him to get on the ground, so I guess he acted like he was getting on the ground,” Glen added. “(He) picked the rifle back up, pointed at the cops, pulled the trigger and the gun jammed. So the cops got lucky.”

The sheriff’s office said this was the second time they had been called to the man’s house within a few days but would not comment on what the previous incident was about.

Next-door neighbor Sherry Statler said deputies had also been called out there a few months ago and that Anderson had been struggling with mental issues lately, which is what led his family to call the sheriff’s office in the past.

“I heard depression,” she said. “I heard that he was on some medication and they were concerned that he had taken too much. It’s kind of sad because he was a great guy and he tried really hard to, you know, do right by his family and everything. I’m sorry to hear it went bad for him.”

“He was a great neighbor,” she added. “He was always caring for – when we’d go on vacation, he’d take out our garbage. He was always looking after our home.”

Statler said she also talked with Anderson’s wife, who only found out what had happened when she got home and came across the police scene.

“(She was) so upset and so surprised,” she said. “I mean, you could just see she had no idea it was going to go so badly for him.”

Anderson’s family was too upset to talk to the media on Sunday. They are still trying to figure out why he went out into the street with a gun in the first place.

The shooting remains under investigation and two deputies involved in the incident are on administrative leave.

Aloha man shot by deputies died of gunshot wound to chest, abdomen, according to medical examiner’s office

From the Oregonian, July 09, 2012

An Aloha man who was shot by Washington County sheriff’s deputies Saturday night died of a gunshot wound to his right chest and abdomen, according to the state medical examiner’s office.

Jeffery David Anderson, 56, was pronounced dead early Sunday morning at OHSU hospital, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. Two deputies fired at Anderson, who authorities say was armed with a rifle, but the sheriff’s office hasn’t released how many shots were fired or how many times Anderson was struck.

Sgt. Bob Ray, a sheriff’s office spokesman, said deputies on Thursday responded to a call reporting that Anderson was suicidal. Deputies, Ray said, contacted Anderson at his home and they took him to a local hospital for further treatment. Ray wasn’t sure who called police during that incident.

Shortly before 8:15 p.m. Saturday, people began calling 9-1-1 reporting a man armed with a gun on Southwest 195th Avenue, south of Southwest Farmington Road, said Sgt. David Thompson, a sheriff’s office spokesman.

Anderson’s neighbor, Jim Briggs, said he called 9-1-1 Saturday night after a passing motorcyclist told Briggs’ mother-in-law to go inside Briggs’ house because the motorcyclist had seen a man carrying a gun down 195th Avenue.

Briggs said he watched out his door as Anderson, whom he described as unstable, sat on the curb across from Briggs’ house and pointed a rifle toward cars driving along 195th Avenue. He said Anderson, who lived two doors down on the same side of the street, was talking to himself and seemed drunk.

At least two deputies reportedly arrived shortly after the calls and found the man, armed with a rifle. Within a few minutes of the deputies’ arrival, Briggs said, Anderson took aim at them, and two officers fired back.

The sheriff’s office has not confirmed whether Anderson pointed the weapon at deputies. After Anderson was shot, he was taken to OHSU Hospital, where he later died.

The two deputies who shot Anderson were placed on paid administrative leave, Thompson said. They have not yet been identified, and Ray wasn’t sure when they will be interviewed.

The sheriff’s office is not releasing further information, citing the ongoing investigation, which is being conducted by the Washington County Major Crimes Team.

The shooting is the second deputy-involved shooting in Washington County this year. Last month, sheriff’s deputies 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.

52-year-old man shot and killed by sheriff’s deputy

From the Oregonian, June 3, 2012

READ – All stories on Robert Fox
READ – Washington County authorities investigating fatal officer-involved shooting in Aloha, Oregonian June 3 2012
READ – 52-year-old man shot and killed by sheriff’s deputy, KATU.com, June 3 2012

Neighbors of armed Aloha man fatally shot by sheriff’s deputy express shock about incident

Robert Kimball Fox

Neighbors of an Aloha man fatally shot by a Washington County sheriff’s deputy Sunday after authorities say he confronted deputies with a rifle described the man as friendly and quiet and expressed shock about the incident.

Robert Kimball Fox, 52, pointed a “loaded high-power rifle” at deputies and failed to respond to multiple commands to drop the gun, said Sgt. Bob Ray, a sheriff’s office spokesman. A sheriff’s deputy fired one shot, striking Fox, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The sheriff’s office is not releasing where Fox was shot or the type of firearm the deputy used.

Shortly after 3:15 p.m., sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a man, armed with a gun, threatening suicide at his duplex home, in the 6700 block of Southwest 180th Avenue, Ray said. Fox reportedly came out of the home with the rifle and into the street, where he confronted four deputies. A deputy opened fire.

The sheriff’s office hasn’t released the name of the deputy who shot the man. The deputy, Ray said, is on paid administrative leave, a standard procedure after a police shooting, and will be interviewed Tuesday.

The sheriff’s office hasn’t released information about who reported the original incident or if anyone else was inside the home at the time of the disturbance. The man’s wife was at the scene after the shooting, Ray said, but he wasn’t sure if she had come from inside the home.

The incident was the first officer-involved shooting in Washington County since Oct. 14, 2010. In March, members of the Washington County Tactical Negotiations Team shot Adalberto Flores-Haro in North Portland, while they were helping the Portland Police Bureau.

On Sunday, Marilyn Hedlund, 69, who lives a few houses down from Fox in a duplex home on Southwest Monte Verdi Boulevard, was working in her upstairs office when she heard commotion.

“I heard the police say, ‘put down the gun, put down the gun,’” she said. “They were screaming.”

Hedlund looked out her window and saw a man pointing a gun toward the deputies, who were standing in the curve in Monte Verdi Boulevard, where the road turns into 180th Avenue, she said.

The deputies, she estimated, shouted commands for minutes. Then, she heard one shot. And the man fell.

“…I never thought I’d see anything like that in my life,” Hedlund said.

She can’t recall what happened next. “I was so shook up at that point,” she said.

After the shooting, she called a neighbor and told her to lock her door and stay inside. At some point, Hedlund said, an ambulance arrived at the scene.

Hedlund said authorities used yellow-and-black police tape to block 180th Avenue at Southwest Barcelona Way and along Monte Verdi Boulevard. Deputies, she said, also taped off intermittent areas of the scene, including where the body and gun were located. Investigators flooded the area.

“It was unbelievable,” she said. “It was just really unbelievable.”

Several neighbors said they didn’t know Fox well, but would say hello when they saw him. They described him and his family as quiet and friendly, and said they’ve lived in their home for multiple years.

On Monday afternoon, several people were gathered at Fox’s home, which has two small American flags decorating the yard. A woman who answered the door declined to comment.

Chelsea Haskell, 26, and Henry Condron, 28, have lived across the street from Fox for two years. The couple said they were shocked by the incident.

Haskell and Condron said their neighbor was friendly, always appeared happy and would compliment their yard, which has a bed of red, yellow, orange, purple and blue flowers.

“He was always really nice – he’d wave or give a thumbs up,” Condron said.

Carol Hilden, 67, who lives a few houses down from Fox’s residence, said she saw the man who was shot Sunday morning. The two exchanged greetings. Hilden said she asked her neighbor how he was doing, and he said, “great.”

“This is a tragic event — the neighborhood is a quiet neighborhood,” Hilden said. “I think it impacted all of us.”

Deputy identified in fatal officer-involved shooting in Aloha

From The Oregonian June 07, 2012

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office has identified the deputy who shot and killed an Aloha man Sunday after authorities say the man pointed a rifle at deputies.

Deputy Brian McLeod, a 12-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, fatally shot 52-year-old Robert Kimball Fox Sunday afternoon, said Sgt. Bob Ray, a sheriff’s office spokesman. Ray said that Fox pointed a “loaded high-power rifle” at the deputies and failed to respond to multiple commands to drop the gun.

McLeod was placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure after a police shooting.

McLeod, a member of the Washington County Tactical Negotiations Team, was also involved in a shooting that injured a man at New Columbia in North Portland on March 13. Members of the Washington County team were helping the Portland Police Bureau. During that incident, McLeod and Hillsboro Officer Steven Slade reportedly fired from their handguns at Adalberto Flores-Haro and Washington County sheriff’s Deputy John Egg fired a less-lethal 40 mm grenade launcher.

Flores-Haro, 31, was shot three times – once in the forearm, and twice in the torso, when he came out the front door of his home holding a handgun to scare away what he thought were prowlers outside his home, his family said.

A Multnomah County grand jury last month cleared the involved officers of any criminal wrongdoing.

During Sunday’s incident, McLeod fired one shot, striking Fox, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The sheriff’s office has not released where Fox was shot or what type of weapon McLeod used.

Shortly after 3:15 p.m., sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a man, armed with a gun, threatening suicide at the residence, in the 6700 block of Southwest 180th Avenue, Ray said. Fox reportedly came out of the home and into the street with the rifle, and the deputy opened fire.

The Washington County Interagency Major Crimes Team is continuing to investigate.

Deputy who shot and killed man involved in another shooting

From KATU.com, June 9, 2012 – UPDATED

KATU editorial note: A previous version of this story stated that the deputy was also involved in two other shootings. He was actually only involved in one other shooting. KATU regrets the error.

The Washington County sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a man last weekend in Aloha was also involved in another shooting, which is still fairly controversial based on what victims are claiming.

Deputy Brian McLeod has been with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for 12 years. He opened fire Sunday killing 52-year-old Robert Fox. Deputies say Fox came out of his house carrying a loaded high-power rifle and that he pointed it toward the deputies in a threatening manner. Fox was shot once and died at the scene.

McLeod was also part of the tactical negotiations team helping Portland police track down a gang member in the New Columbia neighborhood back in March. That resulted in McLeod and two other officers opening fire on Alberto Flores-Haro who came out of his house with a gun.

He wasn’t the man police were looking for and witnesses claim the officers never identified themselves as such. They say he was simply defending his home.

Flores-Haro is still in the hospital recovering from three shots to his stomach and arm.

A grand jury cleared all three officers of any criminal wrongdoing.

“It’s just unfortunate that there were two of them (shootings) that close together but police work and law enforcement in general you never know what the next few seconds holds,” said Sgt. Bob Ray, spokesman for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

McLeod has received two lifesaving awards from the sheriff’s office for people he helped while on duty.

Prior to these recent shootings, the sheriff’s office says he’s never pulled the trigger in another officer-involved shooting.

There is a lot McLeod will have to do before returning to patrol, including seeing a psychologist, and running through scenarios similar to the shooting he was involved in.

He’d been back on patrol for roughly two months since the March shooting. He’s now on paid leave again as part of standard procedure for what happened last weekend.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is still facing a $7 million federal lawsuit for the 2006 shooting death of Lukas Glenn.

It’s one of 34 lawsuits filed against the agency since 2005 but only eight are still open cases. Two of them resulted in settlements for less than $80,000 total. Another 24 were thrown out.

By David Stabler, The Oregonian, Friday, February 24, 2012

Benjamin Brink / The Oregonian
Because it was full, the Right 2 Dream Too tent area in Old Town turned away the two men who were later shot under the Morrison Bridge. The organization turns away an average of 20 people a night.

Hours before they bedded down Tuesday night under the Morrison Bridge, Carter “Joe” Hickman and Albert “Allen” Dean, sought shelter at an Old Town homeless tent area, said Ibrahim Mubarak, who runs the shelter. They were turned away for lack of room — an increasingly common event for Portland-area shelters.

At 5:12 a.m. Wednesday, Portland police officers responded to reports of a shooting under the bridge’s east side. Hickman, 57, and Dean, 43, were shot while they slept. Both are expected to survive. The assailant remains unknown, but police have a description of the vehicle.

The two men had shown up Tuesday night with a third friend, Mubarak said. “All three were turned away because we were full,” he said. Each night, the shelter, Right 2 Dream Too, turns away an average of 20 people, he said.

Mubarak knows Hickman, who remains in fair condition at OHSU Hospital. Hickman frequently slept at the shelter, which occupies a vacant lot by Old Town’s Chinese Gates. Dean was treated for a grazing wound and released.

The circumstances of Wednesday’s shooting underscore the area’s severe shortage of homeless shelters. Demand has never been higher, advocates say.

Hickman and Dean are two of the roughly 2,700 homeless people who sleep outside, in vehicles, abandoned buildings or in Multnomah County’s emergency shelters. In Washington County, 1,356 people were homeless or in transitional housing on a one-night count in 2011. Clackamas County homeless numbered 2,747 last year, with only 48 beds in emergency shelters.

Homelessness increased 8 percent in Multnomah County in 2011, according to a survey by Portland Housing Bureau and Multnomah County. In January, 361 men and 173 women were waiting for a room at Transition Projects Inc., Portland’s largest homeless agency for single adults.

Portland Homeless Family Solutions, which shelters families, used to overfill three or four times a year. Today, the agency fills 75 percent of the time, said Brandi Tuck, Executive Director. “For years, we have not had less than capacity,” she said. Twenty families are waiting for shelter. The average wait is one month.

Portland isn’t alone. A woman waited six months to get into My Sister’s House, a woman’s shelter in Gresham, said director Becky Coleman. Another shelter, My Father’s House, is also full.

“A lot of homeless just camp out on the Springwater Corridor or downtown in alleyways, underneath awnings,” Coleman said.

Washington County’s three homeless shelters are full, too. In January, 64 families were waiting for emergency shelter, said Annette M. Evans, Homeless Program Coordinator for Washington County’s Department of Housing Services.

Demand no longer spikes only in winter, advocates said.

“When I first came here 17 years ago, we would see a substantial difference between summer and winter,” said Doreen Binder, Transition Projects’ Executive Director. “We don’t see that anymore.”

When winter warming shelters close in spring, demand at other emergency shelters rises, said CityTeam’s Roger Burke.

With shelters chronically full, it’s hard to track changes in demand. But another yardstick, meals served to the homeless, shows increased demand. Zarephath Kitchen in Gresham served a record 142,000 meals last year. Portland Rescue Mission on West Burnside normally serves 250 to 350 meals a day. Last Tuesday, it dished up 420.

Age is another change in homelessness. Today’s homeless men and women are younger than in previous years. More mothers and children are homeless, as well, advocates said.

“We used to see a lot of two-parent families with kids who had been around for a while,” Tuck said. “Now, we’re seeing younger parents with toddlers.”

At 5 p.m. Thursday, a line of men stretched down a Portland block, each hoping to secure a mat to sleep on the floor at CityTeam International, a homeless shelter on Grand Avenue.

When the doors opened at 6 p.m., the line surged forward. Within 10 minutes, all but six of the 51 spots were taken.

“We can’t keep up,” said Rev. Chuck Currie, who has worked with homeless issues for 25 years. “Portland is the national model for how to address homelessness, but that only shows you how bad off the rest of the country is.”

Deborah Kafoury, a Multnomah County commissioner who works on housing issues, points to programs such as Rapid Rehousing for Homeless Families as one solution. The program seeks to get families into permanent housing quickly, often by working with landlords.

“When families lose their housing, we’ve found jumping through a bunch of hoops is not helpful to anyone and costs more money,” she said.

Also see:

Portland Mercury: Drive-By Shooting Injures Two Homeless Men Sleeping Under Morrison Bridge
Portland Mercury: Homeless Men Shot Under Morrison Bridge Had Been Turned Away from Packed Old Town Tent Refuge
KATU TV: Two homeless men shot in ‘drive-by’ under Morrison Bridge
KPTV TV: Homeless men shot while sleeping under Morrison Bridge
Rev. Chuck Currie: Statement On Ash Wednesday Shootings Of Homeless Portlanders
The Oregonian: Two Homeless Men Shot While Sleeping Under Morrison Bridge
The Oregonian: Police Release Suspect Information, Victim Names in Homeless Shooting
Right 2 Survive Pdx: Right 2 Dream Too Response to Shootings of Two Unhoused Men

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By Rebecca Woolington, The Oregonian, Friday, February 10, 2012

Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies talked down a man who was threatening to jump off a U.S. 26 overpass this morning. The incident reportedly closed the highway for about 25 minutes.

Shortly before 11:20 a.m., a person called 9-1-1 to report a distraught man who was on the Northwest Brookwood Parkway and Helvetia Road overpass, said Sgt. David Thompson, a sheriff’s office spokesman. Sheriff’s office Sgt. Tim Tannenbaum was nearby and responded.

Tannenbaum found the man on the overpass and determined he was in crisis, Thompson said. The man, with both hands, grabbed the guardrail. He threatened to jump onto the highway and into traffic.

Tannenbaum talked to the man, while instructing deputies to close the overpass and highway. He then requested that Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Tim Kiurski – a member of the county’s Hostage Negotiations Team – respond to the call, Thompson said. Kiurski also runs the Mental Health Response Team — a partnership between the Sheriff’s Office, LifeWorks Northwest and the county’s mental health department that places a trained mental health worker with Kiurski.

A mental health worker was not with Kiurski today.

Kiurski and Tannenbaum continued talking with the man and he eventually agreed to go to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation, Thompson said. The man did not hurt himself.

The entire incident – which multiple sheriff’s deputies and Hillsboro police officers responded to – lasted about 25 minutes.

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By Emily E. Smith, The Oregonian, Thursday, February 09, 2012

Telly Alexander Heath

A mentally ill man’s sex crimes in summer 2010, which sparked outrage among Hillsboro residents, has instigated proposed legislation that would require licensing for certain residential facilities.

Hillsboro residents, crime victims and Rep. Katie Eyre Brewer (R-Hillsboro) testified Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee in support of House Bill 4159, which would define the Luke-Dorf Hillsboro facility as a “residential treatment facility,” subject to licensing and oversight.

That’s where 34-year-old Telly Heath was living in July 2010, when left the facility and raped a 21-year-old woman and sexually abused an 11-year-old girl at knifepoint after breaking into their homes.

Eyre’s office said Thursday the bill “slightly adjusts state law to ensure agencies work together to ensure more facilities are licensed and monitored.”

The Hillsboro Neighborhoods Coalition is behind the bill and has also filed a complaint with the Oregon Health Authority. The complaint requests an investigation into the Luke-Dorf facilities and a review of the laws on licensing for residential facilities.

“As a direct result of inadequate supervision and monitoring by Luke-Dorf, two young Oregonians were the victims of brutal crimes,” the complaint alleges.

Filed Feb. 1 by attorney John Gear, the complaint says the facility is operating in violation of state law.

Linda Mokler, chairwoman of the neighborhoods coalition, said the facilities need oversight to keep the public safe and to better help facility residents.

“We really are seeking this to benefit the clients, the employees and the community,” she said.

The group is not opposed to social services, Mokler said, but it wants to see improvements in monitoring and public disclosure.

“They have to be run in a responsible way that gives our community a peace of mind that there is accountability,” she said. “We’ve seen what happens when they’re not successful,” she said, referencing Heath’s crimes, which yielded a prison sentence of nearly 38 years.

Mokler said Heath’s crimes may have been prevented if the Luke-Dorf facility had been licensed.

“We can’t say for certain, obviously,” she said. “But more oversight makes this less likely to happen.”

In Heath’s case, she said, a curfew and more monitoring by staff could have protected the public. The community also should have had more information about Luke-Dorf’s clientele, Mokler said.

At the time of the sex crimes, Heath had been accepted into Washington County’s Mental Health Court and was on probation for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and identity theft. Mental Health Court ordered Heath to stay at the Luke-Dorf facility.

Luke-Dorf officials did not respond to requests for comment.

HB 4159 is co-sponsored by Rep. Julie Parrish (R-West Linn) and Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland).

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