City of Portland now faces a 3rd class-action lawsuit over police use of force at protests

Portland protests, June 14

A crowd of protesters gather in downtown Portland near the Justice Center on June 14. Jamie Goldberg/Staff

Three more people on Tuesday sued the city of Portland, which is now facing three class-action lawsuits related to the use of force and munitions at protests.

The class-action complaint named three plaintiffs, Robert Evans, Bea Lake and Sadie Oliver-Grey, and contains seven allegations, including assault, battery, negligence, false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suit does not seek a monetary compensation, but seeks declaratory and injunctive relief — asking the court to find the plaintiffs within their rights and to order police to stop brutalizing and unlawfully arresting protesters.

In the lawsuit, the three plaintiffs allege that Portland police have been unnecessarily violent with protesters, interfered with their right to free speech and stopped journalists from doing their jobs.

According to the suit, two of the plaintiffs, Evans and Lake, are freelance journalists who have documented the protests in downtown Portland since they started in late May, and Oliver-Grey works as a housing services specialist.

“On many occasions, police departments have issued statements alleging that protesters were engaged in unlawful activities, and livestreams have provided the evidence to refute these claims,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit alleges that Portland police interfered with those rights, and that officers have targeted those who try to document police conduct or identify officers. The lawsuit notes that both state law and Portland Police directives that state anyone has the right to observe and record police, as long as the person is not interfering with police conduct.

The lawsuit was first reported on by an independent website called Raindrop Works.

The lawsuit describes several interactions Evans had with police while he was documenting the protests, from May 30 to June 30. The interactions included police allegedly threatening him with arrest if he did not leave the area, shooting him in the foot with a tear gas grenade and spraying him, and repeatedly shoving him.

Lake describes showing her press badge to officers while covering a protest on June 6, and being told that her press badge did not matter. The lawsuit states that Lake repeatedly asked the officer for his name, he threatened her with arrest and then arrested her.

The lawsuit describes Oliver-Grey suffering from impaired vision and dry-heaving after police sprayed tear gas, and being in a crowd when officers fired rubber bullets. Oliver-Grey was also arrested on June 6. The lawsuit states that she saw a young woman being arrested and filmed the encounter until police told her to stop. When she retreated while continuing to film, officers arrested her. She said officers told her that she was arrested because she did not go home after police declared an unlawful assembly.

The lawsuit also noted that police have declared the protests an “unlawful assembly” or a “riot” nearly every night and have deployed munitions like smoke, tear gas and rubber bullets.

But the lawsuit points out that according to Oregon law, unlawful assembly is not a crime and that refusing to follow an officer’s orders is not a crime if the person is not being violent. The lawsuit cites an Oregon statute that says a person can’t be arrested for passive resistance.

This is the third class-action lawsuit protesters or journalists have filed against the city since late May, when the police killing of George Floyd set off global protests and uprisings against police brutality and racism. In early June, the nonprofit Don’t Shoot PDX and two individuals filed a class action suit against the city over police use of tear gas against protesters. The plaintiffs sought a temporary restraining order to stop police from using tear gas in the city, and also sought a permanent ban. On June 9, a judge granted a two-week order banning police from using tear gas unless lives were at risk.

A group of independent reporters, including freelance journalists Tuck Woodstock, Mathieu Lewis-Rolland, Sam Gehrke and John Rudoff, filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against the city on June 2, alleging police were assaulting reporters and others trying to document protests.

On June 30, two independent journalists filed lawsuits against the city, sheriff’s deputies and state police alleging negligence, excessive use of force and violation of free speech rights. (The Oregonian/OregonLive has filed a formal complaint over police treatment of its photojournalist Beth Nakamura).

