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Top 25 Settlements: Portland Police Incidents settled 1993-2012
totalling roughly $8.1 million*** Note: Some amounts are
settlements, other are jury awards or judgments
Name
Amount
Date settled Incident
date Brief notes
- Family of James Chasse, Jr.*
$1,600,000.00
7/28/10
9/17/06 Use of force (leading
to death)
- Family of Aaron Campbell*+
$1,200,000.00
2/1/12 1/29/10
Shooting (died)
- Protestors August 2002&May 2003
$845,000.00 12/1/04
8/22/02
Use of force (pepper spray)
- Family of Damon Lowery
$600,000.00 6/25/05
12/5/99 Use
of force (leading to death)
- Family of Raymond Gwerder
$500,000.00
11/14/07
11/4/05 Shooting (died)
- Barbara& Ted Vickers, Estate of Dickie Dow
$380,000.00 3/27/02
10/19/98
Wrongful death/Dickie Dow
- Family of James Jahar Perez*
$350,359.00
9/3/08
3/28/04 Shooting (died)
- Daniel Thomas**
$311,000.00
3/14/08&9/28/04 7/11/03
Use of force
- Dan Halsted*+
$206,372.70 (jury)
3/14/12 6/17/08
Use of force (Taser)
- Bruce Browne
$200,895.00
4/1/03
7/11/01 Shooting
(lived)
- Family of Dennis Young*
$200,000.00 10/8/08
1/4/06
Shooting (died)
- Maria-Janeth Rodriguez-Sanchez
$177,161.41
12/2/05&8/3/05 4/8/03
Use of force
- Harold Hammick, Ri'Chard Booth & Alex Clay*
$175,000.00 (jury) 9/23/09
3/17/07 Mistreatment (pointing
guns and more)
- Family of Peter Gilbaugh*
$150,000.00 10/1/02
12/31/98
Shooting (died)
- Barbara Weich
$150,000.00 1/2/08
5/29/05
Use of force (broken arm)
- Eunice Crowder
$145,000.00
4/23/04
6/9/03 Use of force (including
Taser)
- Chaz Miller
$133,926.06 6/21/06
4/21/03 Use of
Force/wrong person arrested
- Gerald Gratton
$118,000.00
4/4/94
7/19/93 Shooting (lived)
- Two women victims of Ofcr John Wood*
$105,000.00 2/25/09
7/21/06 Use of
force (broken arm)
- Ivory Spann
$100,056.79 4/7/97
6/6/93
Force/Baton hits
- Family of Duane Anthony Shaw
$100,000.00
10/25/95
9/14/93 Shooting (died)
- Johnny Senteno
$96,975.23
12/30/94
8/21/93 Use of force/Arm broken
by projectile
- Janice M Aichele (deceased)
$90,000.00 11/7/96
10/6/94
Off-duty shooting (murder/suicide)
- Heather Bissell
$88,385.83 9/23/05&8/17/05 4/30/03
Use of force/arrest
- Dalebert V Acelar and 3 others
$87,000.00
6/16/99
10/17/97 Unlawful
search/detention
Total
$8,110,132.02
Sources: Portland Office of Risk Management, Portland Office of
Management and Finance, Portland City Auditor's Office and various news
agencies
This chart should be published regularly by the City to let people know
what police misconduct is costing the people of Portland. Sure, they can
argue that in cases that were settled out of court they never admitted
wrongdoing, but if they felt they had a sure chance to win, they'd
defend their officers. The $8.1 million total for just these 25 cases
does not include another $2.7 million paid out to over 200 other people
from 1993-2012. With an average of at least $500,000 per year, the City
could be paying for several civilian investigators to staff an
independent police review board. Perhaps with ongoing external
monitoring, the frequency of such cases would decline.
As many cases after 2007 have not gone through the courts yet, we can
compare the average annual totals for incidents between 1993 and 2001
($382,000) and from 2002-June 2011 ($636,000)***** and see that the
advent or Portland's "Independent" Police Review Division in 2002 has
done little to slow the lawsuits or the misconduct that generates them,
and in fact it may be that more people are turning to the courts rather
than using the civilian complaint system (see PPR #44, May 2008).
--16 of the top 25 are incidents that occurred since 2002, when the IPR
began operating; 8 of the top 25 are payments made since January 2008.
--Some of the amounts shown include the City's legal expenses, making
them appear higher than the settlements alone. But since this expense
comes back to you, the taxpayer, we feel all expenses should be included
when known. For example, Heather Bissell's case settled for $50,000 but
the figure above includes $38,000+ in city expenses.
Notes:
*-new info or new settlement/judgment since April, 2008
**-Daniel Thomas' case ended with a judgment in March, 2008 of
$100,000, but the city closed out his original claim with $91,746.53 in
city legal expenses. The total reported payout including attorney's fees
was $311,000 (Oregonian, 12/10/09)
***-The total of the top 25 up to 2005 was $3.6 million; in April 2008 it
was $4.5 million
****-Ladd was beaten by off-duty officers, but on-duty cops acted to
cover up the beating We use the term "settlement" loosely to cover
settlements, judgments, and other payouts by the city to cover the costs
of police misconduct.
*****-Portland Copwatch has incomplete data for 2008-2012 but hopes to
update this information soon.
+-These settlements were announced in the press but may have to be
approved by City Council.
Compare to totals from:
-
2011
-
2008
-
2006
-
2005
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