On December 8, Koben Henriksen was fatally shot by a Portland police officer, making him the fifth person to be killed by Portland Police Bureau (PPB) in 2019.
Portland hasn't experienced a year with that many deaths at the hands of police since 2010.
Henriksen's death was particularly striking, as it incorporated three of the region's leading societal problems: Homelessness, an overburdened mental health care system, and unchecked police violence. Henriksen, 51, was homeless and struggling with an undiagnosed mental illness at the time of his death. According to police reports, Henriksen had been transported to local hospitals twice in the past few months, after police determined he was mentally ill enough to seek a psychiatric evaluation.
Henriksen was wandering in traffic near Mall 205 on the afternoon of December 8, waving knives at passing cars, when officers were called to the scene. Despite PPB's familiarity with Henriksen's mental state, officers immediately responded with deadly force. No more than 13 seconds after approaching Henriksen, PPB Officer Justin Raphael shot him dead.
The shooting drew immediate response from local officials, mental health leaders, and police accountability advocates. Here's what we're hearing so far:
Danielle Outlaw, Portland police chief
"PPB officers have had two prior encounters in the past four months involving the same individual. In each of these incidents, mental health appears to have played a role and the officers peacefully resolved the incidents and connected the individual to medical services. Unfortunately, in the most recent encounter, the outcome was different, which is a tragedy for all involved, including family, the community, the officers, and PPB personnel. The negative impacts are deep and oftentimes irreversible.
This series of cases highlights the systemic failures of the mental health system, which continues to recycle individuals rather than resolve the underlying issues. New ideas, such as the Portland Street Response project, are welcome, but would not have resolved this issue differently because that team would not have been dispatched due to the nature of the call involving an armed individual. There are a number of accountability measures in effect for the officers involved, which will scrutinize their every action and decision. Where is the same level of accountability throughout the mental health system? Law enforcement professionals are put in an impossible position and we need the public to help prioritize effective and humane mental health treatment and demand urgent and immediate action."
Ted Wheeler, Mayor of Portland
"I'm asking the public for patience while we wait for the facts to come out. I am not going to prejudge the decisions of the police officers without the facts, despite pressure to do so. I don't know what happened between the time the officers arrived on the scene and when the shooting took place. That will be one focus of the current investigation.
By the time shots were fired on Sunday, there had already been multiple systems failures, in my opinion. I feel quite strongly that the mental health system failed Mr. Henriksen. As mayor, I don't have any control over the mental health system, but I have a voice and I believe it's my responsibility to work with the state and county mental health authorities to improve our mental health safety net. This is truly a sad situation for all of us in Portland. It's a tragedy. We must do better for those in crisis in our streets, for the men and women in our police bureau who are all too often called upon to resolve very complex social issues, and [for] the community at large who expect us to protect the most vulnerable in our community. I will do everything in my power to help vulnerable people in our community to get access to services they need."
Jo Ann Hardesty, Portland City Commissioner
"I’m disappointed that we’re myopically pointing fingers at one particular issue rather than taking a deep dive to meaningfully talk about all the systems that failed Mr. Henriksen this past week. This isn’t a question of which system is solely responsible. So yes, I agree that our mental health system could use improvement. But there are other systems that also need improving. Although we cannot draw conclusions about what occurred with Mr. Henriksen until there has been a full investigation, the OIR Group, who conducts annual outside reviews of officer involved shootings, has raised concerns that we have used deadly force too soon. These patterns of behavior have been identified by OIR year after year, and yet people in mental health crisis continue to die of deadly force.
So this is my hope: It’s my hope that we use this opportunity to work on all the systems that continue to fail our most vulnerable. Our communities deserve better."
Multnomah County (via spokesperson Julie Sullivan-Springhetti)
"It is a tragedy anytime anyone in crisis dies in our community. Every one of us has people we know who struggle with mental health challenges. Multnomah County will wait for the official review on the death of Koben Henriksen to bear out the facts. Ultimately, anyone experiencing a mental health crisis should not have to face a violent death at the hands of law enforcement. The county is actively working to provide other options locally for these situations because even if our mental health system were fully-funded, people are still going to experience crisis in public. We can, and we must, do better."
Dan Handelman, founder of Portland Copwatch
"We've seen this before: The police and the City deflect the criticism of what is an apparent excessive use of force by blaming the shortcomings of the mental health system. The police accused James Chasse of urinating in public and then told people he was on drugs (even though he had a bag of bread crumbs). They focused on Keaton Otis' mental health issues even though they had no idea about that at the time and pulled him over for "looking like a gangster." It's clear that the training for police to de-escalate and reduce harm to people who may have mental health issues, which has been put in place over the past five to seven years under the Department of Justice agreement, is not working.
It is extremely rare that a person dies due to use of force when in the protection of mental health workers but all too common when they are confronted by police."
Jesse Merithew, civil rights attorney currently representing several families of Portlanders who've been killed by PPB officers
"People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. It is true that the mental health system was not able to effectively intervene to address Mr. Henricksen’s needs before he was killed by the Portland Police. But no one from the mental health system put a bullet in his head. The Portland Police did that. Placing the responsibility on other institutions to protect vulnerable people from police violence is perverse. While the officers involved will have their actions and decisions scrutinized, that scrutiny is nothing more than a show trial with a predetermined outcome. 'The officer feared for his life, he had no choice, it’s all very tragic, but we did nothing wrong.' The officers will be cleared of any wrongdoing and can look forward to long careers with the Portland Police Bureau."
Sarah Radcliffe, attorney with Disability Rights Oregon
"We owe it to those who've died this year in crisis to find out if there was anything we could have done different to save their lives. It's very clear we need more resources for affordable housing and comprehensive mental health care. But, even with a robust mental health system in place, there are still going to be moments of crisis that require a police officer response—and it’s absolutely unacceptable to respond with deadly force."
Jason Renaud, co-founder of Mental Health Association of Portland
(see full statement here)
"Routine harm by police—including death—to people with mental illness hasn’t been eliminated or even reduced [since the DOJ settlement agreement]. There’s been reduction of use of force against people who don’t have mental illness, but that’s a different thing. Further, because cops said they were going to fix the problem and failed, people with mental illness and addiction trust Portland cops less. That means when a cop says 'Stop!' a kid might consider running. That means when an adult psychotic son threatens his mom, she might not call for help.
Oregon laws don’t match community values—so police who misuse force aren’t held accountable. District attorneys don’t have guidance or laws to prosecute police who misuse force, which results in impunity. Impunity is a poison which kills governments; as conscious concerned citizens, we can taste the poison. Antifa tastes the poison, everyone of color taste the poison, people with an interest in justice taste the poison. It’s making us sick."
Members of Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing (PCCEP)
"Board members extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Koben S. Henriksen who was killed on Sunday afternoon in Portland by a police officer. Although we do not have much information on the circumstances of this shooting, we are troubled that he may have been suffering a mental health crisis at the time of his death....We are concerned that the police may continue to use deadly force in cases where deescalation would be most appropriate. We hope that the police and other city officials can share more information about this shooting soon and we look forward to an independent investigation."
