The City of Portland is likely to pay a record $500,000 to
the family of Raymond Gwerder this week—a man shot in the back
without warning by a police sniper while he was on the phone to a
hostage negotiator in November 2005.
The news broke in a press release sent out last Thursday, November
8, by civil rights attorney Tom Steenson. The city council was slated
to finalize the settlement via an emergency vote—which means no
public discussion will take place—this Wednesday, November 14. It
will be the biggest settlement ever paid out in an officer-involved
shooting.
On November 4, 2005, Gwerder, 30, was “drunk and despondent,”
holding a handgun in the backyard of a friend’s house where he had been
staying on NE 118th, when a police officer trained in crisis
intervention managed to get through to his cell phone. As Gwerder was
talking with the negotiator, and about to go inside the house, he was
fatally shot in the back without warning by police sniper Leo
Besner.
Besner claimed his fatal shot was justified because of danger to
Gwerder’s neighbors, but Steenson argued the police had failed to
evacuate nearby neighbors over the 90-minute period before the
shooting. Evidence has also emerged that Gwerder was denied medical
attention for over 20 minutes after being shot—an act that could
have possibly saved him. Gwerder was also Tasered as he lay dying
[“Left to Die?” News, July 12].
The commander on the scene that day, East Precinct Commander Mike
Crebs, told investigators that when Besner shot Gwerder, “The shot just
came outta nowhere, I thought we were talking to the guy.”
Police union boss Robert King accused Steenson and the Gwerder
family in the Oregonian newspaper last Friday, November 9, of
“attacking a good and experienced officer,” and of “flaunting” the
settlement with their press release the day before.
King was also quoted by Oregonian reporter Tom Hallman Jr.
saying Besner had never been involved in a shooting before—which
is untrue. Besner was put on paid leave in 1999 following his
involvement in the shooting of Robert Lynn Smith. He also shot an
un-named man in July 1999, according to the city’s Police Assessment
Resource Center report on officer-involved shootings, which does not
name victims.
King told the Mercury on Friday, November 9, Hallman had
misquoted him. “What I said,” King clarified, “was that Leo has never
been involved in a shooting while he’s been on the SERT [Special
Emergency Response Team] team. Leo’s been on the team for eight years
and has never been involved in a shooting. But somehow that got changed
to ‘He’s never been involved in a shooting.'”
King said he had talked to Hallman and that he had agreed to print a
clarification or correction as soon as possible, but the
Oregonian’s website still featured the alleged inaccuracy on
Monday, November 12, and Hallman did not return a call for comment by
press time.
Previous settlements involving Besner have already left city
taxpayers with settlement tabs totaling about $1 million for the cases
in which he has been involved.
“We remain gravely concerned that after so many complaints about
Besner and my brother’s death at his hands, Besner still not only roams
the streets of Portland, but with a badge, an arsenal, and apparently
the unending support of his department,” said Gwerder’s sister, Bobbie
Jo Clark, in a statement through Steenson.
“We can only hope and pray that no other person will suffer the loss
of a loved one in the future due to the city’s failure to terminate
Officer Besner,” she added.
Mayor Tom Potter deferred comment on the settlement to City Attorney
Linda Meng, who also declined comment.