The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office declined to indict the police officer who shot and killed Eric Hurtado in downtown Portland on October 15. The announcement was made Thursday, the same day Portland Police Bureau (PPB) released video footage of the incident, showing the mere seconds between when officers arrived and when shots were fired at Hurtado.
Officers arrived around 4:40 pm to find Hurtado, 36, using a box cutter to assault a man in a downtown hotel alcove. Four seconds elapsed from the time PPB officer Daniel Hall exited his vehicle to the time he fired two bullets at Hurtado, striking him once in the chest.
Medics and police were dispatched downtown after Hurtado assaulted and tried to stab a security guard outside the Dossier Hotel on SW Alder St. The blade on the knife was not extended, according to the DA’s office memo. A few minutes later, Hurtado walked toward St. Honoré Bakery, where he used the same utility knife to repeatedly stab a man in the kitchen area, leaving him with serious injuries. According to the DA’s office, the employee was hospitalized with a lacerated left ear, a lacerated upper left arm and wrist, and lacerations to the left side of his neck, down to the muscle. He also suffered a small fracture to the left humerus bone. The victim was treated and eventually discharged.
Hurtado then made his way toward the Hotel Vintage Portland, where he encountered a group of hotel employees in a doorway area outside and proceeded to attack one of them with the box cutter. Police arrived around the same time. Body camera footage shows police spot Hurtado, then immediately exit their vehicle. Officer Hall was the first to approach and the only one to fire his weapon. Immediately after firing, he commanded Hurtado to drop the knife, as other officers approached to assist.
Hurtado fell to the ground, gasping for air, but continued to reach for the victim, as he lay on the ground next to the man he’d just assaulted. Police ordered everyone to clear away from the area, then handcuffed Hurtado. Afterward, they rendered basic medical aid until medics arrived and transported him to a hospital. Hurtado died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. A preliminary drug screen conducted by the state medical examiner’s office found methamphetamine, THC, and buprenorphine—a medication typically prescribed to help manage opioid withdrawals—in Hurtado’s blood, though the amounts of each substance are unclear.
The DA’s Office said after reviewing the involved officer’s statements, and reviewing body camera footage, as well as security camera footage from that day, they determined Officer Hall’s use of force was justified, given the circumstances. That means the case will not go before a grand jury for review.
“He had no reasonable opportunity to issue commands or utilize de-escalation techniques,” Deputy District Attorney Todd Jackson wrote in his memo declining prosecution. “Mr. Hurtado’s conduct required direct and instant intervention to protect the people in the alcove and stop the attack. There was no other reasonable course of action available to Officer Hall to address the situation.”
That’s a determination Hurtado’s parents and siblings are struggling with.
Hurtado family: “That wasn’t him”
Hurtado’s family says he was battling an undiagnosed mental health disorder and appeared to be “stuck in a state of psychosis.”
The family flew out from Southern California a few days after his death. They say they were able to meet with the district attorney and view body camera footage of the incident, before it was released to the public.
“It was just very hard to watch. That’s just never been him,” says Alexis Hurtado, Eric Hurtado’s sister. “It’s wild to see the state that he was in to act like that. That wasn’t him.”
Watching the footage was disconcerting for a number of reasons.
“It was like it happened too quickly,” she adds. “We understand that Eric was committing a crime. We totally have compassion and care for the people who were hurt as well.”
Still, she and her family can’t help but question whether Eric could’ve been stopped without lethal force.
“I kept thinking how dangerous it was for the other people in the corridor right there,” Alexis Hurtado says. “I just feel like the gunshot was not safe at all for anybody. I’m coming from an emotional standpoint, so it’s hard for me. …My brother was very ill.”
She said his condition worsened during a stint in prison. Eric Hurtado was sentenced to two years for distribution of a controlled substance. A few years ago, he’d connected with a sponsor and gone to Narcotics Anonymous meetings, but in 2024, he was arrested downtown and found with a pill bottle containing more than eight grams of fentanyl, according to court records. The arresting officer listed on the 2024 probable cause affidavit was Officer Hall—the same one who shot Hurtado on October 15.
When Hurtado was released from prison a few months ago, his sister said he was sober, but his demeanor had changed. During a visit with him in August, she said he seemed “scared and paranoid” and talked about being placed in solitary confinement for a period of time while he was incarcerated. She suspects he didn’t have the tools and resources to successfully readjust to life after incarceration.
“Things need to change,” she says of the need for better access to behavioral health services. “I don’t want families to have to go through this.”
Hurtado’s family was in the process of working with his post-prison supervision officer to get him moved from Portland back to his hometown of Yucca Valley, California, where he could be near family who could help him access treatment.
They’re now struggling with guilt on top of grief, but the family is also trying to remember Eric Hurtado as the person they knew best, and they want others to do the same.
“He was talented. He taught himself how to play guitar,” Alexis Hurtado says. “Our family just wants to let people know that our brother was loved, and we don’t want his passing to be in vain.”
A memorial service for Eric is planned for November 7 at the church the family attends in California.
October shooting hearkens back to federal settlement
Hurtado is hardly the first person to be killed by police while experiencing a mental health crisis. In 2014, the city and PPB entered into a federal settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice after the federal government brought legal action against the city for demonstrating a pattern of using excessive force on people with “actual or perceived mental illness.” The agreement mandated several reforms in how PPB trains and oversees its officers. Among the stipulations for use of force, the agreement dictates that PPB “shall attempt to avoid or minimize the use of force against individuals in perceived behavioral or mental health crisis.” The agreement stops short of outlining specific mechanisms for determining whether someone is experiencing a mental health crisis. The agreement remains in place today, and is overseen by an independent monitoring agency.
Although the DA’s office already made a determination regarding criminal charges in this case, the fatal officer-involved shooting will also undergo internal review for policy, procedure, and training analysis. Portland’s Police Review Board, which is an advisory body to the police chief, will also review the incident.
The Hurtado shooting marks the fourth deadly use of force by PPB this year, and the third death resulting from the lethal force.
