The family of Aaron M. Campbell, who killed in January by a Portland police officer, has filed a wrongful death suit against police and the city of Portland.
The civil suit, filed this morning in U.S. District Court, names Officer Ronald Frashour, who filed the fatal shot on Jan. 29, other officers at the scene and the city as plaintiffs. It asks for an unspecified amount of economic and noneconomic damages from the plaintiffs along with punitive damages from the officers.
A statement released by Campbell's parents said their son left four young children who need to be provided for. It said it's been difficult watching the actions of the grand jury and a police force review board along with the response of the police union.
"From observing these events, it has become clear that a lawsuit is the most effective way to make public all the facts," the statement said.
Campbell, 25, was shot in an apartment parking lot in North Portland. Police had been called to the scene on a report of a suicidal man who was armed. Campbell came out of the apartment with his hands behind his head, walking backward toward police, witnesses said. Police, who said he ignored commands to put his hands up, hit him with six beanbag rounds. Frashour then hit him in the back, firing the fatal shot with his AR-15 rifle. The officer said he saw Campbell reaching with both hands toward the back waistband of his pants and thought he might be reaching for a gun.
In February, a Multnomah County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing, but issued a rare, stinging indictment of the bureau, citing inadequate training, lack of central command and communication.
Then in September, Police Chief Mike Reese and Mayor Sam Adams moved to fire Frashour for improper use of deadly force and suspend another officer and two sergeants. Officer Ryan Lewton and Sgts. Liani Reyna and John Birkinbine are both named in the suit.
The police union protested that move.
Officer Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, said the chief's moves political and vowed to challenge them.
"This decision by Chief Reese and Mayor Adams sets a dangerous precedent," he said in a statement. "It teaches us that even if Portland police officers follow the bureau's policies and training, they act at the peril of their career if political pressure is great enough."
Frashour, who is still on paid administrative leave, and the other officers, who are back at work in North Precinct, have the right to mitigation hearings before a final decision is made.
Lt. Kelli Sheffer, spokeswoman for Portland police, said some of the mitigation hearings have taken place but at least one is pending. She expects the entire process to take perhaps another 30 days.
"We're nearing the end of the process," Sheffer said.
-- Lynne Terry
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