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UPDATES People's Police Report #84 September 2021
Portland Copwatch has been tracking settlements, judgments and jury awards given out on police
misconduct cases since 1993, posting data including the top 25 list on our website. We recently
updated the data, including the major awards to the families of Quanice Hayes ($2.1 million,
PPR #83) and, on July 21, Terrell Johnson ($600,000).
A Portlander was also good enough to share 10 years' worth of claims from a public records request, which show over 200 cases adding up to nearly $222,000 with amounts mostly under $5000. The significance? That's the threshold to send a case to Council for a vote. Many of the cases are for things like breaking (or running into) fences, hitting the wrong car's tires with spike strips, and other lost and damaged property. PCW contends that most of these incidents would still occur-- and still cost the City money-- even if officers wore body cameras. Overall, the total amount paid out (that PCW knows of) since 1993 is now $19,246,434.53, an average of $675,313 a year, up from $600,000 in last year's analysis.
Brian Hunzeker, the Portland Police Association President who resigned after doing something (still unknown) related to the leak of City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty's (wrongful) accusation in a hit-and-run (PPR #83), was put on administrative leave in late May. This likely has to do with a separate incident in which Hunzeker was recording good samaritans who approached a car in which two people were passed out. Police refused to check on their safety but happily made rude comments to the bystanders and even pointed guns at them once the car's occupants woke up (Portland Mercury blog, May 19). Another level of scrutiny will come from a lawsuit that Hardesty has given notice she plans to file against the City and Hunzeker for falsely identifying her as the driver in the hit-and-run (Willamette Week online, August 4). At least two 911 dispatchers have faced discipline for their part in sharing that information out as "gossip" (Oregonlive, August 4). In our last issue we wrote about Officer Andrew Caspar having been fired for lying to Internal Affairs about telling people he didn't chase a suspect because of rules put in place by President Obama. In June, an arbitrator decided that Caspar did not intentionally lie and ordered that he return to his job with back pay (Oregonlive, June 30).
Micheal Stradley, the former Portland officer who helped persuade fellow West Linn cops that
Michael Fesser, an African American man, was still involved in gangs 20 years after his last known
arrest (PPR #80), resigned as a training officer at the Department
of Public Safety,
Standards and Training in June (Oregonlive, June 8). Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
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September, 2021
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Portland Copwatch Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.
People's Police Report
#84 Table of Contents
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![[screen capture of PCW's chart displaying the top 7
settlements paid out due to Portland Police incidents]](https://www.pjw.info/copwatch/PPR84/top25settlements2021adj.jpg)
Like the Hayes settlement, City
Council allowed the Johnson family attorney to speak as well as two family members, making for a
moving hearing which clearly affected most of the Commissioners. PCW hopes this practice will
continue.