DID PORTLAND POLICE commanders and Mayor Sam Adams’ office conspire to fire the cop who shot Aaron Campbell in the back nearly three years ago? And then did they cook up an important training review and lie under oath in front of an arbitrator to make the political fix stick?
Not quite, according to a new city report on the case released Monday, October 1—offering up findings that, on their face, appear to puncture a conspiracy theory flogged hard by the Portland Police Association (PPA) after Adams stood firm this spring and refused a labor arbitrator’s order to put Officer Ron Frashour back in uniform.
And the timing of the report, by the city’s independently elected auditor, is serendipitous. It dropped just days before an expected city council vote this Thursday, October 4, that will take Adams’ fight over Frashour’s fate to the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Adams—increasingly the target of nasty jabs by PPA President Daryl Turner—had asked his colleagues to back him after the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB) last month also ordered him to reinstate Frashour.
“Based on the auditor’s findings, I respectfully ask the Portland Police Association to cease their attacks on the character and integrity of members of the Portland Police Bureau, and to start focusing on the facts of this case,” Adams said in a statement.
The mayor has some reason to crow. City Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade found no evidence that any cop lied during the investigation or in front of an arbitrator—which would be a cardinal violation of the bureau’s truthfulness policy. She also found “no documentary evidence” that Chief Mike Reese’s office or the mayor’s office unduly influenced the review of Frashour’s training, or that Adams traded Reese his promotion in May 2010 for a promise to fire Frashour.
Turner, the PPA boss, had made all three accusations in a public screed posted to the union’s newsletter in June, quoting in detail from confidential arbitration transcripts that later were published by media outlets. It was his complaints that led Adams to call for the auditor’s investigation.
“ONE ORCHESTRATED STORY”
Moreover, a new—and inflammatory—allegation was tucked inside some 100 additional pages of testimony affixed to the auditor’s report. One of Reese’s top aides, Assistant Chief Larry O’Dea, told investigators it was the police union, not the chief’s office, who tried to influence cops in the case.
O’Dea said “shifty” statements from “brother” cops—cops who told the arbitrator they didn’t think Frashour did anything wrong, he alleges, after saying the opposite during a review board hearing—left him “feeling pretty uncomfortable.”
Reese fired Frashour because he shot at Campbell, who was running from officers after being hit with a beanbag gun, without considering whether Campbell was unarmed. Some bureau trainers later defied Reese, testifying Frashour was doing what he was taught to do.
“Knowing that [PPA President] Daryl Turner has talked to at least one of them directly… what kind of pressure is he creating… is that creating on this,” O’Dea told investigators. “I’ll tell you it just felt like I was hearing one orchestrated story in there and not individual opinions.”
Turner did not return a message seeking comment on O’Dea’s insinuation. But he did issue a statement answering Adams’ admonition.
“The fact is, the PPA has always focused on the facts of Officer Frashour’s use of deadly force,” reads the statement. “In contrast, the city—and Mayor Adams—have focused on politics, which deprived the community of facts that would allow them to understand why Officer Frashour justifiably used deadly force.”
Meanwhile, PPA officials made their feelings about the investigation very clear when sitting down for testimony.
Union lawyer Anil Karia, representing Paul Meyer, the bureau’s lead instructor on less-lethal weapons and sniper rifles, accused the city of punishing cops who contradicted the chief during Frashour’s arbitration hearing. “This particular investigation is retaliatory,” he said.
LACK OF CLARITY
But it wasn’t all great news for Adams and Reese.
Griffin-Valade knocked the bureau for waiting years to craft clear policies on how training reviews are shaped—arguing that lack of clarity did more than anything to give Turner an opening for his complaints.
That’s important, because training reviews—a measure of how and whether a cop followed bureau lessons on things like de-escalation and use of force—have increasingly influenced discipline decisions in recent years. That’s partly because the reviews themselves have become more stringent, actively questioning a cop’s decision-making, for instance.
Reese says he’s drafting new procedures for the reviews, but it’s not clear whether they’ll provide that clarity. He testified that while it would be wrong for a bureau commander to order wholesale rewrites in a training review, it would still be okay for a commander to weigh in on whether a review is thorough or logical. That’s a fairly big loophole.
Reese also was ambivalent about another recommendation, aimed at minimizing the appearance of collusion. Amid talk of a cookout at which cops in the Campbell case discussed the shooting, and other social outings, the report suggested the bureau extend a blackout on individual cops’ private discussions until after any internal investigations are finished.
“We’re in a Catch-22 a little bit,” Reese testified. “Because the officers have a right and need to be together and talk about these incidents if they’re going to heal, and I think these traumatic incidents are life-changing for the officers.”
The report also touches on the fundamental awkwardness of having training instructors—who serve alongside the same officers they’re reviewing—weigh in on misconduct cases. Attorney Tom Steenson, who helped Campbell’s family extract $1.2 million in damages from the city, has repeatedly harped on that disconnect.
Reese acknowledged the system is “set up to be very difficult” to fire cops, but he stumbled over himself on whether “there’s room for improvement” or if the system is “very, very good.”
“So I don’t—I don’t know what the ultimate answer is,” Reese testified.
FRASHOUR’S IMMINENT RETURN
Whatever happens, the report might wind up another footnote in this saga if Adams’ court challenge falls short—a possibility even the city commissioners supporting him acknowledge—and Frashour returns to work.
That may happen even while the courts are hearing Adams’ appeal, the Mercury has learned. The city has 30 days from the date of ERB’s order, September 21, to reinstate Frashour, and the board gets to decide whether Portland can put that off.
In a 2008 ruling on a similar request from Josephine County, ERB split the difference—letting the county delay rehiring workers, but forcing it to fork over back pay in the meantime.
City Attorney Jim Van Dyke acknowledged an early reinstatement is “legally possible”—a controversial outcome in the face of so much community outrage and political wrangling—but he wouldn’t speculate on the odds.
“We’re still reviewing that.”
Attention, wonks! For a more detailed analysis of the auditor’s report, click here.
What the fuck dude? You need to do something about that shit if it’s true.
On March 26th 2007 Eric Carlson and John Ray committed a break in and they raped and photographed and killed a child and then they drove to Clackamas Walmart and bragged to Walmart employees about it!
Walmart employees in turn helped them by framing a Terry Wagar for the crimes and Walmart employees used Walmart printers to print flyers giving Terry Wagar the blame!
Everyone in that store knew Eric Carlson was dressed up like Terry Wagar and they were cracking jokes all day long in the back of the store about Eric Carlson being a twin to Terry Wagar!
January 2005 I was battered by the Portland police and Multnomah county sheriff’s at East Port Walmart in the parking lot while waiting for my wife Joan Wagar to come out for her lunch break and police arrested 2 of our daughters without charge and I was not charged with anything, police then blackmailed family members to sign waivers saying police did nothing wrong before we could get our children back.
February 2005 I was actively being gang-stalked by police and they were renting apartments around mine and they were destroying my reputation by spreading false rumors.
March 2005 multiple under cover police officer’s were working under cover at East Port Walmart started wining and dining my wife Joan Wagar and they bought her expensive gifts, and in her gratitude she began lying for them and she started sleeping with one of them named Eric Carlson.
Everyone in East Port Walmart knew of Eric Carlson and Joan Wagar’s affair they openly discussed their affair in front of Walmart employees and Joan Wagar and Walmart employees nick named Eric Carlson Doubleclick because he was almost a twin to me and no one wanted me to know about it.
April 2005 Joan Wagar was actively cheating on me with Eric Carlson and she used his nick name in video games and she had his nick name in her cell phone contact list.
Joan Wagar recruited her daughters in April to lie for her about her affair with a double of her husband so I was surrounded by people that was helping my wife and a cop to hide their motive for murder.
May 2005 Joan Wagar started poisoning my coffee cup and Joan Wagar admitted to her daughters around this time that she now has a nick name everyone at Walmart gave her, she said her nick name is Dash.
I was a plasma donor at the time my wife started poisoning me and an entire Walmart store full of employees were calling the body double and the poisoner by the nick names Doubleclick and Mrs Dash.
June 2005 Joan Wagar and her f@@k buddy’s in law enforcement tried setting me up to get the blame for Joan Wagar’s crime, Joan Wagar demanded that I put antifreeze in her car even though it did not need it so her lover the cop could film me using antifreeze, I refused to do anything for her car because of that blatant attempt to frame me.
July 2005 Joan Wagar wanted me to confront her over her affair with Eric Carlson so she started emailing him right in front of my face and Eric Carlson was pretending in his emails to my wife that he was married and that he wanted his wife dead.
August and September I tried warning people about Eric Carlson and Joan Wagar’s murder conspiracy and I was severely poisoned by Joan Wagar for my trouble and Eric Carlson’s buddy’s made sure I could not get help from police or from a hospital.
Everyone at East Port Walmart knew of Eric Carlson and Joan Wagar’s affair and they knew of their nick names and what they stood for, the body double and the poisoner Eric Carlson and Joan Wagar had a lot of people lying for them about their affair
July 2009 I caught several people in law enforcement and my ex wife outside my apartment early in the morning waiting to ambush me when I potty my dog, my ex wife Joan Wagar and her lover the cop Eric Carlson were waiting along side my apartment door on a stairway next to my door and another officer named Shannon was hiding behind the van and trailer across the street and another female officer was on the other end of the building out of my line of site until she walked up to Shannon.
They were waiting in ambush for me to potty my dog peppy and they were trying to hide what they were doing, as I opened my door to potty the dog I noticed a man with a cap dived behind the trailer across the street, so I turned out my lights in my apartment and grabbed my camcorder and aimed it at the van and trailer trying to catch the person on video.
To my surprise and horror Eric Carlson stepped into view in front of my doorway, he was laying in wait on the stairs next to my door, and Eric Carlson just walks away towards the street, I noticed he was carrying something but did not know what it was until I looked at my video, on my video you can see a camcorder lens cap swinging back and forth under Eric Carlson’s camcorder, so Eric Carlson the cop, my wife’s lover, was laying wait in ambush by my front door at 5:45 am and he is holding a camcorder.
As Eric Carlson gets to the road he looks left and uses a hand signal to his partner Shannon to stay put, and then Eric Carlson grabs what appears to be a gun that he was holding along with his camcorder, and then Eric Carlson walks down the middle of the street.
After a minute or so a woman that was also laying in wait on the same stairs steps into view, it is my ex wife Joan Wagar, but I did not realize that at the moment it happened, and she walked into the parking lot calmly and then started running as though she is a victim, flailing her shirt around, as she got to the street she glanced left where Shannon was before she turned right and headed in the direction of Eric Carlson down the middle of the street.
I did not realize at the moment that they were trying to lure me outside by revealing Eric Carlson and Joan Wagar were Gang-Stalking me by my front door and then running off down the street, but my instincts told me they wanted me outside so they could shoot me.
After a minute of waiting nothing happened so I turned off my camcorder and continued to wait on my couch in the living room, after a minute or two I noticed someone from the front of the van from across the street was crossing the street heading in my direction, I could not see who it was but I could see the persons shadow from the street lights revealing his approach, I grabbed my camcorder and turned it on and as my camcorder started recording the man stopped in front of apartment 102.
I aimed my camcorder down at the sidewalk because at the moment his shadow was all I could see and I tried to get it on my camcorder, the man lit a cigarette and I could see the flash of his lighter, and then the man stepped into the parking lot and into my camcorders line of sight, it was the man my ex wife refered to as Shannon, Eric Carlson’s buddy and partner in law enforcement, this is the man I saw dive behind the trailer, this is the man Eric Carlson and Joan Wagar glanced over at when they got to the street.
As he stepped into the parking lot a forth person that was Gang-Stalking me walked up to him and they spoke to each other, the entire time she kept her back to my direction, and then she went into apartment 102 and Shannon walked up to his black car with the license plate SAYLVU and looked over in my direction and at that moment made it known to me he wants me dead.
This video is proof of a murder conspiracy these law officer’s and my ex wife were Gang-Stalking me waiting in ambush and since Eric Carlson himself had a camcorder he wanted to film me being killed.
Shannon seems very upset I did not step into their ambush and was not hiding that from me, I realized after watching the video that Joan Wagar wanted me to notice it was her hoping I would chase after her.
They were going to kill me when I potty the dog and since I changed my mind about that they tried to lure me outside by revealing my ex wife was hiding by my front door hoping I would chase after her, either way they would have shot me, they were in position to ambush and shoot me.
http://s1324.photobucket.com/albums/u604/WifePoisonedMe/?action=view¤t=Neighborsthatframedme_zps0659e809.mp4
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may072012/wagar-diary.php
http://www.rotten-eggs.com/2011/02/doubleclick-and-mrs-dash-real-life.html
Terry Wagar