MULTNOMAH COUNTY commissioners are expected to vote this week
to approve a record $925,000 settlement over the county’s role in the
death of James Chasse in 2006.
An autopsy found that Chasse, who suffered from schizophrenia, had
26 broken ribs and a punctured lung when he died of “blunt force trauma
to the chest.” The proposed settlement only covers Chasse’s treatment
at the Multnomah County Detention Center, where Portland Police Bureau
Officers Christopher Humphreys and Kyle Nice took Chasse after beating
him in the street. Patricia Gayman, a jail nurse, refused to admit
Chasse to the main jail after looking through his holding cell window.
Chasse was taken to hospital in a patrol car driven by Nice and
Humphreys but died en route.
The city and American Medical Response are yet to settle their
portions in the case, covering the conduct of both the police officers
and the ambulance company who initially failed to transport Chasse to
the hospital, respectively. Multnomah County is also responsible for
the behavior of former Sheriff’s Deputy Bret Burton, who has since been
hired by the Portland Police Bureau and joined Nice and Humphreys in
Chasse’s initial beating.
“The family of James Philip Chasse will have no comment until after
the county board of commissioners votes on the matter next Thursday,
July 2, 2009,” said the Chasse family’s attorney, Tom Steenson, late
last week.
“I’m not surprised the county is looking to settle,” says Jason
Renaud of the Mental Health Association of Portland. “The case looked
very strong against them. I expect the city and the other parties in
the case to settle quickly, in light of this latest development.”
The police bureau instituted new training for police officers after
Chasse’s death. Meanwhile, County Chair Ted Wheeler says he hopes the
settlement will provide an opportunity for the community to “move
on.”
“This issue has been somewhat divisive to the community of advocates
for mental health issues,” he says. “It’s important to me that we can
now move forward.”
Wheeler now wants to build a mental health crisis center so cops
have somewhere other than jail to take people like Chasse for emergency
evaluation and specialized care.