A Portland Police officer who shot a 12-year-old point blank with a beanbag gun is headed for desk duty when he returns from administrative leave, Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer and Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman announced this afternoon.
"We have made the decision to place Officer Chris Humphreys in an off-street administrative assignment upon his return to duty and pending the outcome of the investigation into the use of force incident that occurred on the 148th Street MAX Platform," they said in a joint statement.
Humphries, along with Portland Police Officer Kyle Nice and Multnomah County Sheriff's Deputy Brad Burton, were the arresting officers of Portland resident James Chasse, who died from a severe beating soon after his arrest in September of 2006 for allegedly urinating on a public sidewalk.
Last summer Multnomah County paid out a $925,000 wrongful death settlement to the Chasse family; a civil suit by his parents is still pending against the City of Portland, Humphries, Nice, Saltzman and Sizer.
In other news Monday, the Willamette Week news blog reported that mental health advocates meet with the city auditor Friday to discuss Humphries' "stress disability claim" filed immediately after Saltzman placed him on leave, amid charges that the stress claim is an abuse of the system.
Hundreds of Portland Police officers and their family members marched on city hall last week to demonstrate what they called a "no-confidence" vote against Sizer and Saltzman; the police officers union is collecting ballots today on a ceremonial "no confidence" vote they say they've called to protest the Humphries use-of-force investigation and his administrative leave in the Nov. 21 MAX shooting of the pre-teen, who police said was fighting their attempt to place her in handcuffs before the shooting.
"Over the course of the last week, doubts have been raised in the media about the state of the Portland Police Bureau," said Saltzman and Sizers' Monday statement. "We think it is important to express that the Portland Police Bureau and public safety in the City of Portland are in sound condition, when measured by a variety of performance indicators."
They noted that, Portland crime has dropped 11 percent so far this year, and "when measured on a per capita basis, crime is at historic lows."
The statement said the police has "worked hard on the use of force issue over several years," and that "use of force and officer-involved shootings are down and injuries to officers and suspects are down."
Sizer and Saltzman say that use of force complaints have dropped nearly 60 percent, and that Internal Affairs complaints are down 40 percent over the past four years.
They said city leadership has begun a dialogue with the police officers' union.
"Emotions have run high over the last ten days," the statement said. "We are confident that we are moving in the right direction for the long-term interests of both the community and the Police Bureau."