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Portland Officers Shoot Three People in Six Weeks,
Using Body Camera Footage to Influence Public Opinion
Police Review Board Report Reveals Information
on 10 Deadly Force Incidents from 2021-2023

Sadly, shortly after Portland Copwatch published our previous newsletter on August 21, the Portland Police Bureau began a string of using deadly force against community members. For the first time, these incidents were caught on body cameras worn by the cops. On August 24, they shot and wounded Robert Seeger, 52, a man with mental health issues, when he allegedly confronted them with a hammer and a gun. Just under five weeks later on September 26, they shot and wounded Jesse James West, 24, in what appeared to be a dramatic gunfight. Eight days after that (October 4, six weeks since they shot Seeger), they killed Nicholas Thorn, 28, in what the Oregonian described as "mid-negotiation" as a Crisis Intervention Team officer shouted an expletive when she heard another officer shoot Thorn (October 19). This is a dramatic doubling of people shot by the PPB in nearly the entire first eight months of the year. In September, they released the first of two semi-annual Reports from the Police Review Board (PRB), which recommends findings and discipline on serious cases including shootings. The new Report contained memos from 21 cases heard by the PRB, including 10 deadly force incidents from 2021, 2022 and 2023 (also see article). In People's Police Report #93 we noted the PPB had been responsible for 20% of law enforcement deadly force in the state. At this time, that has grown to over 21% (see article).

Can Robert Seeger, Known to the PPB, Get a Fair Trial?

The Bureau continues its inexcusable practice of with-holding the names of officers involved in incidents for roughly 14 days, after their previous policy required disclosure in 24 hours (PPR #88). The officer who shot Seeger was Nicholas Morales (#59830). Morales was named in a lawsuit where in 2020 a property owner reported a burglary, Morales and another officer arrived, found nothing and left, then the burglar emerged from the basement and injured the caller.

The Bureau released the body camera footage on September 9, with a "Star Wars"-type scroll of text at the beginning to "contextualize" what viewers would see. However, it was far from a neutral presentation. It asserted that the officers tried de-escalating prior to the events included in the clips that were released. The system is always so scared of tainting a jury pool (whether if be for the community member's crimes or the officers') that they withhold information. Putting their thumbs on the scale in this way is outrageous.

Anyway, Seeger should have been known to the PPB as someone who lives with mental illness because in 2014, they brutalized him while he was in a hospital seeking help, including, apparently, putting their knee on his neck. The resulting lawsuit cost the City $80,000 plus attorney fees (Oregonlive, August 28). Remember, Portland continues to live under a US Department of Justice lawsuit filed in 2012 because police use excessive force against people in mental health crisis. So they attacked the same person twice while the DOJ has been watching.

Jesse James West: Police Unleash 30 Bullets at Suspected Armed Robber

The Bureau's Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) was sent to arrest West for an armed robbery he was suspected of committing. Three officers were named: Brett Emmons (#56132), Joshua Faris (#41138), and Matthew Wells (#42663). Emmons, who fired five rounds at West, was on scene when another officer shot and killed Michael Townsend in 2021 (PPR #84). Faris, who fired 11 rounds, was one of the officers who used Tasers on and stomped local movie aficionado Dan Halsted in 2008 (leading to a payout of over $200,000, PPR #56). Wells fired an amazing fourteen rounds and was responsible for arresting a man who in 2005 put up wanted posters for the police who killed James Chasse (PPR #42).

While the body camera footage does not proclaim there was de-escalation, it suffers similar limitations to the Seeger footage in that much of the time the cameras are capturing parts of police vehicles, body parts and/or weapons (also see "Rapping Back,"). The release of the names and footage came exactly 14 days after the incident, the outer limit on responses to public records requests for officers to be identified in any scenario.

Nicholas Thorn: De-Escalation Truncated by Officer Gunfire

The officer who shot Thorn was Andrew Young (#57282). He appeared in PPR #93, where we described how he ran through a stop sign when trying to get ahead of a suspect in October 2023, leading to a crash that killed the suspect. He seems to be an over-eager type. Thorn was armed with a pellet rifle and officers were yelling "put down the f**ing gun!" Meanwhile, Officer Nola Watts (#45768) was trying to calm the situation down, telling Thorn not to shout because they didn't want the neighbors to "hear his business" (Oregonlive, October 17). It's not clear that was about de- escalation, as it sounds more like trying to convince him to keep anyone from witnessing what the police were doing.

They released the body camera footage and Young's name on October 17, a mere 13 days after the incident. There was more bogus, opinion-swaying narration attached to this video.

Clark-Johnson Officers Out of Policy, Then In Policy; More Officers Cleared of Criminal Wrongdoing

On December 10, Oregon Public Broadcasting broke the news that the Internal Affairs investigator in the case of Immanueal Clark-Johnson had recommended an out-of-policy finding since Officer Christopher Sathoff was not facing an immediate threat from the unarmed Black man in November 2022 (PPR #88). The Independent Police Review Director seemed to agree. However, the officer's supervisor did not, leading to a 4-3 vote at the Police Review Board. Likely the other two "out of policy" votes were from the community members on the Board, with the four in favor were all cops- - inlcuding that supervisor who gets to weigh in on their own decision. As noted by OPB, it's very rare for an officer to be found out of policy for a shooting, so it seems the management (and, ultimately, the Mayor/Police Commissioner) found a way to speculate that Sathoff believed there was an immediate threat.

Also, in the past few months, a steady parade of information came out from the District Attorney's office, saying grand juries found no criminal violations by the officers who shot Isaac Seavey in December 2023 (August), or Richard Perez in May 2024 (September). In October, the DA released the grand jury transcripts of the shootings of both the Perez shooting and that of Tyrone Johnson, also shot in December 2023. See the News and Updates section at mcda.us for more information.

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As this issue was getting ready to be printed, a man died in custody when the PPB arrested him for allegedly stabbing someone at a convenience store. They claim not to have used force beyond handcuffing him. Watch for updates in PPR #95.

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PRB: Shooting-Adjacent Discipline Issued in Some Deadly Force Cases, Never for the Use of Force

Portland Copwatch once again scooped the media in releasing an analysis of the Police Review Board Report (also see article). There's not enough room here to detail all 10 deadly force incidents covered, but here are some highlights showing when discipline was issued and officers were "debriefed" (given talkings-to), though never for their use of force.

--The PRB voted 6-1 to find officers Jonah Gellman and Ivan Alvarez were in policy for shooting 15 bullets at Andreas Boinay in September 2021 (PPR #85), with one Board member suggesting both officers be debriefed so that they will consider the backdrop when firing their guns in a quiet neighborhood. Chief Lovell, who was still in office when the recommendations were sent, agreed.

--No problem when Acting Sergeant Zachary Kenney and Officer Reynaldo Guevara killed Joel Arevalo in February 2022 (PPR #86), but another Acting Sergeant did not, for investigative purposes, separate the officer who fired a less-lethal weapon at Arevalo's lifeless body though that action made him an "involved officer." Chief Lovell agreed to debrief that Sergeant.

--When Officer Matthew Masunari hit suspect Brian Bruman in the head with the butt of his police rifle in February 2023 and wounded the suspect (PPR #89), he was relying on non-Bureau- approved training. Even though that action was deadly force, Masunari did not even receive a formal letter of reprimand, just "command counseling"-- another form of talking-to, but more formal than the debriefings. The Board felt the action had no impact on the community. Really? In the same incident an "overeager" supervisor received a debriefing for talking to officers before detectives arrived. This case was adjudicated by Chief Day.

January, 2025
Also in PPR #94

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

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