Civil rights attorneys launched a quartet of legal claims
against the Portland Police Bureau this week, urging the bureau to
police itself better or face more of the same.
Three lawsuits and one tort claim—which reserves the right to
sue—were filed against the city on Monday, October 15 by
Attorneys Benjamin Haile and Leah Greenwald, who are working in
coordination with another attorney, J. Ashlee Albies, on one of the
suits. All four claims had strong First and Fourth Amendment
themes.
“The right to engage in free speech without government targeting,
discriminatory treatment, or arrest is a fundamental bedrock of
democracy. And the suits seek to ensure the protection of our basic
constitutional right to free speech,” said Greenwald, at a press
conference on the steps of the Gus J. Solomon Courthouse at SW 6th and
Main.
The suits were supported by the Northwest Constitutional Rights
Center (NWCRC), whose executive director, Alejandro Queral, says
lawsuits are “the only viable recourse that people in Portland have
when they feel their constitutional rights have been violated by
police.”
The NWCRC has been campaigning for the city’s so-called Independent
Police Review (IPR) to employ independent attorneys—instead of
cops from the Internal Affairs Division—to investigate claims
against police officers. Until then, it says, the community can’t trust
the process.
“It’s like the weasel investigating the chicken coop,” said Greg
Benton, who is suing the city for $50,000 for arresting him at gunpoint
and searching his NE Killingsworth apartment last September, based on
nothing more than a hunch (for more details on each of the lawsuits,
visit blogtown.portlandmercury.com).
Benton didn’t bother complaining to the IPR, because he says he has
no faith in it, and moved straight to legal action. He feels the cops
retaliated against him for asking if they had a warrant to enter his
home to look for a shooting victim, after the police received an
anonymous call saying the victim was in Benton’s apartment block.
“I’m an American citizen,” Benton said. “And instead of protecting
our rights, the police look for ways to get around them.”
Frank Waterhouse is suing the cops for $30,000 for shooting him with
a beanbag gun and Tasering him without warning, apparently in
retaliation for videotaping their activities. Police Bureau Directive
1051.00 stipulates that officers should warn a victim “if feasible,”
before Tasering, by shouting, “Taser, Taser, Taser,” but no such
warning can be heard on Waterhouse’s video before it goes black.
Richard Prentice, the man arrested and intimidated in a holding cell
in June for putting up posters describing two police officers and a
sheriff’s deputy as “murderers” [“Thought Police,” News, June 28], has
filed a tort claim. Prentice wants an apology from the officers and
money for violation of his rights.
Ryan Dunn is suing for $30,000 after being arrested for yelling, “We
pay your salaries” at the cops during an anti-Bush protest last
October. He says the cops retaliated against his expression of free
speech, violating his First Amendment rights. Also, they hurt his
swearing finger, or “bird.”
It is against police bureau policy to comment on pending legal
matters.