This one was in Oakland so I guess she doesn't get a dime.
Posted on 11/30/2004 11:18:31 AM PST by TenaciousZ
Portland is set to approve payment of $300,000 to 12 people who claimed police used excessive force during two anti-war marches in March 2003 and during President Bush's visit to Portland in August 2002.
A federal judge spent at least five months mediating the claims, and the City Council is set to approve the settlement Wednesday.
Plaintiffs argued in two lawsuits that the city, Mayor Vera Katz, then-police Chief Mark Kroeker and several officers violated their rights to free speech and free assembly.
They said they were doused by pepper spray at close range and that police fired rubber stingballs into a crowd. They used videotapes to document their claims.
"Our settlements historically have been few and far between in this range," said Mark Stairiker, a claims analyst in the city's Risk Management Division. "It's a big case, but when you divide it by 12, it's fairly routine."
"We hope that getting a settlement of this size will send a message and result in some more accountability than the police have had to date," said Liz Joffe, one of the lawyers representing the group.
The city attorney's office has recommended a settlement to avoid the risk of a large jury award, according to an ordinance before the council.
Political activist Lloyd Marbet was among nine defendants who filed a lawsuit stemming from the Bush visit.
Police clashed with protesters outside the Hilton Hotel as a Republican fund-raiser headlining Bush was getting under way.
Three children there with their parents and a teacher who was hit by pepper spray were among the other plaintiffs.
Their lawyers reviewed more than 100 hours of videotape taken by independent observers and the Police Bureau.
"Several officers testified that protesters were rioting, but the videos showed they were chanting, peaceful protesters," Joffe said. "These officers just showered people in a sea of pepper spray who were doing nothing but chanting."
The city contended that the Bush protesters were sprayed when they "ignored lawful orders to disperse." Yet police commanders and supervisors have acknowledged that they made mistakes and changed tactics when Bush returned for a fund-raiser at the University of Portland the following summer.
"Over the years, we've learned from each and every incident, dating back to the infamous May Day incident" in 2000, when police clashed violently with protesters, Foxworth said. "We continue to look at what worked well and identify areas for improvement."
The next summer, police bused the donors into a fund-raising luncheon at the University of Portland, and set up a large fenced perimeter around the event.
A second suit was brought by William S. Ellis, Randall C. Lyon and Miranda May stemming from anti-war protests on March 20 and March 25, 2003.
According to the complaint, Lyon, an engineer for KATU television news, was struck in the right temple and shoved into his news van by two officers at the demonstration on March 20. It said May, a peaceful protester, was pepper-sprayed at close range and hit in the head on March 25. Ellis, the suit said, was slammed to the ground, assaulted and pepper-sprayed when he refused to identify himself.
Some plaintiffs pledged to donate a portion of their settlements to the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center.
"Stingballs?"
I guess it's not politically correct to call them things you shoot out of guns as bullets.
While I doubt that name is correct, I think "stingballs" is what they are. They contain some type of OC compound...I'm pretty sure they're also used in San Diego. Will do some research on the topic.
This one was in Oakland so I guess she doesn't get a dime.
By the time the attorneys were done with the mullah, I'm sure each individual received much less.
I live in the Portland metro area and I am pissed. These jerks were protesting without permits and TROUNCING all over everyone elses civil rights! And now the city is going to PAY them!!!????! Darn it all to hell this city and state in general is so screwed up,they are staring at the backs of their own throats from the inside(wink/nod)! Those protestors DESERVED what they got. THEY were the one's BREAKING THE LAW!!!! Katz is an IDIOT to settle this, the protesters should be cleaning the medians of the freeways in community service to learn that civil rights DO NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO BREAK THE LAW!!!!!!! If they want so bad to exercise their rights, THEN RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF EVERYONE ELSE AS WELL!!!! Bloody hippocrit/liberal/dims. Katz, liberal dim that she is, REWARDS them!!!!!! This stinks to high heaven.
Good call, Carry. These people dont hold any kind of useful jobs. Scumballs who vandalize businesses is more thier style.
While the settlement may outrage you, I suspect it was simply a business decision. With 12 plaintiffs, the cost of taking the case even close to trial, let alone to trial, would far exceed the settlement cost. I know people shouldn't be rewarded for bad behavior, but it was cheaper for the city to do this than to stand on principle and have to explain the potentially staggering defense costs.
The lawyers will get it all.
Some plaintiffs pledged to donate a portion of their settlements to the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center.
And here is how their Web site describes it:
Case #1 The first lawsuit stems from a visit by George Bush to Portland Oregon on August 22, 2002. A loud but peaceful crowd had gathered in the area designated for protest. Much to the surprise of the crowd, suddenly heavily armed riot police came past the barricades. The unprovoked members of law enforcement went wild with pepper spray, attacking protesters by aiming the burning liquid directly in the eyes at close range. Some police even sprayed directly in people's mouths, where the reaction caused the constriction of airways passages and choking.
A family of four, having observed the escalating violence, attempted to leave the area. Their exit was blocked by police, who then sprayed all four members of the family, including a 2 year old and 7 month old child. Fearing for their children's life, the blinded couple cried our for medical assistance, but their pleas went unheeded by police. Only much later were they eventually transported to a hospital by friends. The city has attempted to settle out of court, but their meager cash settlement was rejected by the family and NWCRC layers.
....
their meager cash settlement was rejected!~
I agree with you. However, caving in to these idiots only ENCOURAGES them to do it again! Not to mention the fact that it trounces our civil rights for a second time! I believe that some things are worth fighting for. Worth more than money. shoot, if the city can afford to install a 200K LAWN on top of the city council's MULTI-STORY office building, the least they can do is support the correct actions of the police! It was the wrong decision. Katz is a blood sucking liberal and is merely rewarding her supporters.
She is lucky, if she was in Boston she would be dead from the pepper balls.
I suspect that the city is self-insured, which may have played into the decision. If the city had liability insurance, the insurance company might decide to fight rather than fold, for the sake of discouraging future suits which are similar. I know nothing about Portland, but I'm aware of some self-insured cities who choose to pay nominal settlement amounts, rather than pay the cost of a hefty defense and the exposure that goes with it. I'm sure the police officers don't like this one bit, and take it personally, but cities just don't have the resources found in the private sector, making it harder for them to fight for what is right. Sad, but true.
"These jerks were protesting without permits"
"Those protestors DESERVED what they got. "
While I might agree that these folks are a bunch of lefty losers, you don't need a permit to protest, and no one deserves to be hit, pushed, and peppersprayed by the police for chanting Anti-Bush (or anti-anything) slogans when someone they don't like comes to town.
Let's be careful not to be so hasty to pooh-pooh the rights of those with whom we disagree. Remember, the shoe might be on the other foot next time, and it might be those protesting a left-wing regime who get beat up and peppersprayed. Rights to peaceful assembly and free speech protect us all.
I suggest that the reason that this was settled was because a jury would have given these people far more, and the City knew it. Next time, maybe the police shouldn't be so overzealous in their use of truncheons and pepperspray, and things like this would not happen. If I were you, and it were my tax dollars going to these stupid protesters, I'd be pissed too...but not at the protestors, at the police!
Come on down! The weather's not fine (raining and nasty out there), but we are a pretty conservative bunch.
Rights don't require permits.
Amendment I: "Congress shall make no law...abridging...the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
There is, however, such thing as an unlawful assembly, which police have complete authority to disband. I don't know enough details about the commands given, resistance put up, etc., to comment any more. I'm just saying there are, in fact, limits.
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