A judge recently ruled that police officers may not have their way with citizens just because of a riot or uprising. Portland city attorneys proposed a way to absolve Portland of financial responsibility for past acts of police brutality. The underlying case deals with a protester who sued Portland after being injured by a police flash-bang grenade. On June 28, a U.S. District Judge Michael Simon threw out the Attorney’s argument.
The city attorney’s defense was based on a loophole in Oregon’s tort law that they said that the city is absolved of financial responsibility for “any claim arising out of riot.” Judge Simon, however, sided with a magistrate judge who determined in April that the intent of the loophole was specifically to help government’s obtain liability insurance by absolving them of financial responsibility for damage caused by rioters.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Julie A. Rosso said in another case that, “So far as we can tell from the history of this state, police officers have never enjoyed such an immunity.” The text, context, and legislative history of [the Oregon Tort Claims Act] is at odds with the City’s assertion of immunity.” Judge Simon was asked by City attorneys to refer the question of the intent of the state tort law to the Oregon Supreme Court. Simon noted the city hadn’t even proved the events of 2020 constituted a “riot” in the first place, and declined the request.
During the uprising in Portland, that also took place across the country in many cities, Meghan Opbroek was hospitalized after a flash grenade “blew off chunks of her flesh“. People were protesting police brutality and murder of people like George Floyd. This happened during protests in North Portland in June 2020, according to a legal complaint she filed in 2022. She accused the police of excessive force and the city of negligence.
Police brutality is still a local issue. Based on population, a Black person was 9.7 times as likely and a Latinx person was 2.2x as likely to be killed by police as a White person in Oregon from 2013-21. Of the 5,856 civilian complaints of pokice misconduct 10% were ruled in favor of civilians from 2016-21. Of 1,029,855 arrests made in Oregon 65% were for low-level, non-violent offenses from 2013-21. Statewide, the number of police shootings increased by five since 2021, while Portland police killed the same number of people.
