NEARLY A YEAR after 17-year-old Quanice Hayes was shot and killed by a Portland police officer, his family is planning to sue.
That news came on Monday, at the tail end of a sweeping, 8,200-word piece about Hayes’ death written by local journalist Leah Sottile. An attorney working with Hayes’ family confirmed a plan to file a tort claim notice with the city—a precursor to a lawsuit.
Hayes’ family has long argued the teen did nothing to merit being shot three times by Portland Officer Andrew Hearst on the morning of February 9, 2017. Officers interviewed after the shooting said they didn’t see Hayes draw the toy handgun he’d been seen with earlier. Instead, Hearst shot Hayes when, while on his knees crawling toward officers, the teen reached behind his back. A grand jury declined to file criminal charges against Hearst.
The incident caused outcry for months last year, and led to Hayes’ family being given an unprecedented hearing before city council to air their grief and grievances. DIRK VANDERHART
A CONTROVERSIAL LOOPHOLE in Portland’s renter relocation law is about to close.
Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office said Tuesday that the mayor now supports doing away with an exemption that allows property owners who rent only one housing unit to avoid paying relocation fees to tenants they displace.
Since last year, the city has required most landlords to pay between $2,900 and $4,500 to renters when they issue no-cause evictions or cause a tenant to move with a rent hike of at least 10 percent. The major exception: so-called single-unit landlords.
With Wheeler’s newfound support—an about-face from the mayor’s position mere weeks ago—there are now enough votes to do away with the exemption when council takes up changes to the law later this month. DVH
