Despite DOJ Intervention, Portland Police are Still Killing People in Mental Health Crisis

Teri Johnson never expected justice.

Her brother Damon Lamarr Johnson died in June after being restrained by Portland police for several minutes as they tried to take him into custody for behavioral health evaluation. 

A medical examiner’s report concluded Johnson 52, died of a prone-restraint-induced cardiac arrest, with methamphetamine use being a “contributing factor.” Prone restraint refers to the face-down position officers kept Johnson in while attempting to handcuff him in his apartment. It can restrict breathing and can also lead to metabolic acidosis. Across the United States, it’s been linked with several other in-custody deaths and many police agencies have since stopped using it.

Johnson’s death was ruled a homicide. In November, a grand jury declined to indict the three officers involved in the fatal incident. Teri Johnson is disappointed, but not surprised.  

She said after her brother’s death, Portland Police Chief Bob Day called the family and “expressed his condolences.” In the months that followed, they released information to Johnson’s family in small doses. She awaited the outcome of the grand jury review, but deep down, she knew better than to expect the officers to be charged for her brother’s death.

“There isn’t going to be any accountability,” Ms. Johnson told the Mercury in October before the grand jury had convened, citing a criminal justice system that rarely finds officers charged following fatal interactions with the public, especially when the decedents are Black men like Damon Johnson.

“They’ve lost the humane side of this situation altogether,” she said after the grand jury decision. “We were given some spiel about how they’re trained to deal with people with mental health issues. I don’t really believe it.”

Johnson’s death resurfaces questions about Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) policies regarding people experiencing a behavioral health crisis. The city of Portland is still being held to the terms of a settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice over the Police Bureau’s pattern of using deadly force on people with mental illness. Despite the settlement, Johnson’s death marks the third time in five years that PPB has killed someone with mental health issues. 

PPB’s adherence to the settlement is now overseen by an independent monitoring group. 

The most recent semi-annual compliance report found PPB “in Substantial Compliance with a sizeable majority of the monitored provisions of the Settlement Agreement,” but noted a handful of areas where the Bureau is still only partially compliant. One area of concern, according to the report, is PPB’s employee information system (EIS). The EIS is an internal database with information about each sworn member. It’s largely used for tracking work performance, but the independent monitor noted PPB isn’t fully utilizing the EIS to help identify at-risk employees, including those who demonstrate “potentially problematic trends” like a pattern of using excessive force.

“One such concern is reflected by the fact that a significant portion of force-related alerts are closed administratively (without any resulting intervention with involved officers), leading to the question of whether the EIS is optimally designed to focus on those incidents that warrant some type of intervention,” the compliance report states.

The incident was also rebuked by the Mental Health Alliance, an amicus curiae to the DOJ settlement agreement. The Alliance called Johnson’s death a tragedy that “extends the Portland Police Bureau’s pattern and practice of harming people with mental illness.”

The organization has long advocated for the city to implement a fully functional alternative response program that would see trained mental health professionals dispatched to welfare checks, rather than police.

“The effective way to reduce misuse of force by police against people experiencing a mental illness crisis is to eliminate contact between police and those people in crisis,” a statement from the Mental Health Alliance reads.

While a grand jury reviewed the Johnson case for criminal charges, PPB is still investigating the incident internally, to determine whether the officers violated department policy. The city’s Independent Police Review has also reviewed the case for potential policy violations.

Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez and Portland’s police chief both called Johnson’s death a “tragedy for Johnson’s family and the community” as well as the officers involved.

“I’ve spoken many times about the sanctity of life and the primary role and responsibility of law enforcement to protect that sanctity of life,” Chief Day told reporters during a press conference in November.

Day said the Bureau will consider many factors, including whether or not to prohibit the use of the prone restraint, moving forward.

Call for help turns deadly

Police were sent to Johnson’s apartment complex, Argyle Gardens around 10 pm on the night of June 27 after a 911 call from Anthony Cash, a security guard on shift at the property. Cash reported Johnson had “serious mental issues” and was displaying erratic behavior like smearing shaving cream on the walls of his apartment and “grunting like a gorilla.” Water was flowing out from under the door of Johnson’s apartment into the hallway. Cash emphasized Johnson’s mental state, and when asked about aggressive behavior, he said he was told that Johnson was “hanging knives out of his window earlier.”

Argyle Gardens is an ultra affordable housing complex whose residents are transitioning out of homelessness and often receive wraparound services. Cash estimated Johnson had moved in less than two months prior. 

Cash testified that he was advised to call police by his supervisor when he called her and described Johnson’s behavior. 

“My concern was just getting somebody there ’cause I didn’t know how to approach him,” Cash told a grand jury, noting he didn’t know whether Johnson had a knife and didn’t want an altercation.

Transition Projects, the organization that owns Argyle Gardens, cited an active investigation at the time when declining to answer questions from the Mercury in July about de-escalation training provided to staff. They also declined to answer whether staff are given guidance on how to summon alternative response programs, or how to deal with tenants experiencing a behavioral health episode. TPI did not respond to follow-up questions after the grand jury decision.

Body camera footage released earlier this year by the Portland Police Bureau shows officers greeted the security guard upon arrival, then approached Johnson’s apartment, where the door was cracked open. 

Cash said he told officers Johnson might have a knife, based on what he’d heard from residents on site. 

“They drew their guns, and I was about to leave, but I stayed just for a second and listened to what he was talking about,” Cash told a grand jury, recalling the night of June 27 after police arrived. “And like I said, [the officer] was being gentle, and I felt like, ‘Okay, Damon’s safe with these guys.’ They’re trying to find out what’s going on to help him.”

Police initially asked Johnson about the water coming from his apartment. He confirmed he had no water running. When officers observed his living space in disarray, with the bed flipped over, they asked if he wanted help cleaning up. He declined. Less than a minute later, they moved in to arrest Johnson, and place him on a police officer hold— often called a mental health hold, which is used when a subject is deemed a danger to themselves or others. The process allows police to take a person into custody so they can be transported for medical or psychiatric evaluation. 

Johnson resisted, screaming out as officers tried to physically restrain him. After several minutes of being on the ground with his hands pulled behind him, he stopped breathing. An ambulance arrived and transported Johnson to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. 

A medical examiner’s report cites records indicating Johnson suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and type II diabetes—conditions likely compounded by methamphetamine use. According to the report, he had exhibited mental illness in the weeks leading up to his death, and Argyle Gardens staff documented his mental state at least three times. 

During a visit to his apartment from a resident services coordinator in early May, he appeared “significantly disorganized in both behavior and speech,” and barely engaged or made eye contact with the visitor. On June 11, a resident services coordinator contacted Johnson’s case manager noting he was “telling them there was a child in his room, painting graffiti and trying to stab him with knives, but ceased speaking with [the coordinator] when they asked if police should be called out.”

It’s unclear exactly what behavior he exhibited before making contact with the security guard or police on June 27, but grand jury transcripts, combined with earlier statements made by PPB officials, suggest Johnson was deemed a threat who posed a danger to other residents. 

The mention of knives in the initial 911 call–despite being unconfirmed by the caller– likely had a sizable influence on the outcome. Emergency calls are categorized by type. If a call mentions weapons or other dangerous behavior, it usually gets routed to police, rather than an alternative, non-police crisis response agency like Project Respond or Portland Street Response (PSR).

Note: PSR recently expanded its hours of operation, but wasn’t operating past 10 pm when the call to Johnson’s apartment came in. Regardless, PSR likely wouldn’t have been able to respond to this call because it involved a person inside a building, rather than on a street or other publicly-accessible outdoor area.

Travis Wortman, one of the first three officers to arrive on scene, noted that because the 911 call mentioned knives, it was flagged as a high priority “disturbance with a weapon” situation. Another officer testified that the call notes indicated someone “had a knife in their hand and was waving it out of their window” and was likely a person in distress.

Wortman responded to the call with two other officers—Juan Duque Valencia and Jason Epton. All three officers had been with PPB less than three years at the time.

Despite the description given to 911 dispatchers, officers and the security guard testified that they looked around for knives upon arrival, and observed none. Johnson was in his underwear when police arrived–an indicator that he was unlikely to have any weapons on him. 

Still, Officer Wortman said the security guard indicated “people felt threatened” by Johnson. 

Video footage from the night of Johnson’s death shows officers were reluctant to remove his handcuffs after they observed him losing consciousness. A paramedic insisted that Johnson be uncuffed so he could be evaluated and moved to a gurney.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” an officer responded. “If we have to, then yes.”

Officers again pressed the paramedics about whether it was necessary.

“I don’t even know if he’s breathing,” the medic told police. 

Officer Wortman told jurors that he and the other officers on scene almost immediately made the decision to take Johnson into custody before they entered his home, based on their observations of Johnson “with his pants around his ankles” in an apartment that appeared disheveled, with water seeping out and a strong smell of chemical cleaning agents. They determined Johnson was unstable. 

“The place was pretty [trashed] just looking in,” Wortman told state prosecutors who questioned him. “I could tell that he couldn’t take care of himself.”

A grand jury reviewed the deadly use of force case and declined to indict the officers.

Kirsten Snowden is a prosecutor in the Multnomah County DA’s Office. Snowden says the DA’s Office refers all felony criminal cases to a grand jury for review. Prosecutors can either use a preliminary hearing, which is an open courtroom process that requires a prosecutor to present evidence to a judge to determine if probable cause exists, or a grand jury process in which a prosecutor relies on a jury to decide probable cause in a hearing that is closed to the public. The county DA uses the grand jury process. That means grand juries have a sizable impact on the local justice system.

Grand juries are panels of seven county residents selected at random, just like the typical juror selection process. They serve as an initial screening body to determine whether the DA’s Office should file charges and let a case go to trial. 

“The grand jury is usually asked to vote on whether or not there is sufficient evidence to present criminal charges,” Snowden explains. If five of the seven jurors agree there’s enough evidence, prosecutors file charges and the trial process is initiated. In other words, their job isn’t to determine guilt or innocence, but to decide the strength of evidence as it correlates to particular charges.

The grand jury process is often seen as more friendly to prosecutors, because it doesn’t allow a defendant’s defense attorney to cross-examine witnesses. In fact, data shows that historically, grand juries almost always move to indict, except when it comes to cases involving police.

In cases like in-custody deaths and officer-involved shootings, the police are typically the primary witnesses. 

Quantifying the actual percentage of police indictments in use of force cases is difficult due to limited data collection nationwide. One renowned police crime researcher previously suggested the rate of indictments for police was as low as 2 percent, but others have cautioned that figure is based on incomplete data and can’t be relied on.

Family weighs legal options

The grand jury’s decision not to indict in Johnson’s case means the officers can’t be charged with any criminal offenses related to his death. They could still be named in a civil suit.

Teri Johnson said she and her family have been in contact with Juan Chavez, an attorney with the Oregon Justice Resource Center. Chavez confirmed his organization is reviewing the case for possible legal action, but no decisions have been made yet.

“I can confirm that we are investigating the matter,” Chavez told the Mercury. “We’re very interested in reviewing the grand jury testimony and looking at all the relevant facts.”

Chavez said wrongful death lawsuits can be complex. While he doesn’t know whether a legal complaint will be filed, he does know that Johnson’s death raises questions.

“As it stands, I have grave concerns about how PPB trains their crisis intervention team,” Chavez said, referring to the tactics used that night by officers. At least one officer had training specific to mental health crises and de-escalation. “An egregious piece to me, after watching the footage, is their decision to just barge into the man’s apartment. …They could’ve waited. They should’ve waited.”

Chavez argues the grand jury process for deadly force cases is flawed, and heavily favors police.

“It doesn’t matter who the DA is. I think it’s the institutional policy of the Multnomah County DA’s Office to not take these cases to grand jury in the same way they would for a non-officer,” Chavez posits. “I think the expectation is they need to get out of these indictments and let the civil courts sort these out.”

In Johnson’s case, five of the seven witnesses called to testify were Portland police officers, three of which were involved in the deadly arrest. The other two witnesses were the security guard and medical examiner. 

Snowden said that’s how the grand jury process is designed to operate. Witnesses are typically limited to those who were on scene or had direct knowledge of the incident. Only at a trial would additional experts, like a mental health professional or social worker, for example, potentially be called to testify.

“What matters at this stage is what the officers knew at the time,” Snowden explains of the grand jury review. “If an officer is going to be charged with causing someone’s death, what would be relevant in that legal analysis is ‘what did the police know’ and ‘what are they trained to do?’”

During last month’s grand jury hearing, officers were asked about their crisis response tactics, as well as medical training, particularly when it comes to a person in distress. 

“Do officers get any sort of training … particularly the identification of respiratory distress …?” a grand juror asked Portland Police Bureau Officer Dominic Lovato, a program instructor at PPB’s training division.

“We do not, no,” Lovato replied. He was then asked whether it’s common for PPB to detain someone who’s having a mental episode and may exhibit unpredictable behavior. Lovato said it is.

“That’s common, mostly because you want to make everything safe for the medical responders that are going to come in and do the evaluation,” Lovato explained. 

“Is it possible to consider somebody still resisting arrest after they’ve been handcuffed?” a grand juror asked. 

“Oh, yeah. Absolutely,” Lovato replied.

Johnson’s death is the first in-custody death reported by PPB since 2024, when a man died while police were questioning him after he sustained injuries in a fight at a convenience store. The incident with Johnson is one of four instances of police using deadly force so far this year, and the only fatal incident to occur as a result.