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The entire Portland Police Crowd Control Unit resigned from the job a day after an Oregon grand jury indicted an officer for allegedly using unlawful force against a protester.
The Portland Police Office said members of the Rapid Response Team (RRT) resigned as a group on Wednesday. Acting Chief of Police Chris Davis said Thursday at a news conference that approximately 50 officers, detectives and sergeants make up the team.
Members of the RRT, a volunteer mission, receive advanced specialized training to respond to incidents such as maintaining public order as well as man-made and natural disasters. Their primary role is to provide crowd control at events including protests.
In a statement, the office said all members who resigned from the team remain with Portland Police and will continue their regular duties.
The mass resignation came a day after Officer Corey Bodworth was indicted by a grand jury in Multnomah County on one count of fourth-degree assault after being charged with unlawfully causing bodily injury to someone during a protest on August 18, 2020, near Multnomah. Building.
“In this case, we claim that there was no legal justification for Officer Bodworth’s deployment of force, and that the deployment of force was legally excessive under the circumstances,” Attorney General Mike Schmidt said in a video statement.
Bodworth, who was a member of the Refugee Review Tribunal, was placed on administrative leave. His lawyer could not be reached immediately on Friday.
Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said in a statement Tuesday that he could not “provide additional details” about the officer’s indictment. The Portland Police Association criticized the decision, calling it a “politically motivated indictment.”
“Unfortunately, this decorated public servant has come in the crosshairs of city leaders who are driven by a politicized agenda and criminal justice system,” the union said in a Facebook post.
The association said Bodworth was trying “to restore order during a chaotic night of burning and destruction” when he was knocked to the ground while trying to clear protesters.
The union said that when an officer tried to arrest a protester, other protesters intervened. The union said Bodworth used his police-issued baton to “push” a protester, causing him to fall to the ground. According to the union, it was believed that the person would return to “re-subscribe,” allegedly tried to push the person back with his baton but he “accidentally hit” the person in the head, according to the union.
Police at the time declared the demonstration a riot, saying that traffic was cut off, the Multnomah building was vandalized, and several fires were set. The department said in a statement that when the police tried to disperse the crowd, they were hit by projectiles.
Terry Jacobs identified herself as the protester who had been bludgeoned by Bodworth’s baton. She later filed a civil lawsuit saying she was working as a photojournalist when the officer knocked her to the ground, according to the Associated Press. The city settled the lawsuit earlier this year for $50,000.
Acting President Davis said the RRT members brought up the Bodworth indictment, among many other things, when he resigned.
“I think this is really the culmination of a very long process and not just an indictment that caused this to happen,” he said. “I think this has very deep roots.”
Davis went on to say that the RRT has faced “incredible” challenges in the past 14 months and the team has raised many concerns that the office needs to address.
“I just want to acknowledge how difficult these times are, how challenging they have been…since the beginning of the pandemic,” he said. “Definitely all the national conversations and events in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the huge amount of pressure that has been put on our entire organization, and certainly the members of the RRT, as a result of some really tough times that they have been through.”
The US Attorney’s Office in the Oregon District also addressed the resignations in a statement.
“Communities across the country have endured many challenges over the past year as they attempt to address racial inequalities in the wake of the killing of George Floyd,” Scott Eric Aspugh, acting US attorney for the Oregon District, and Kieran L. Ramsey, the special agent in charge of the FBI said. Federal Reserve in Oregon in a joint statement.
“In Portland, those challenges have included large and sometimes violent demonstrations that have strained our local resources and repeatedly placed officers in the difficult position of policing large and sometimes hostile crowds. As law enforcement officials, we recognize that community members and law enforcement personnel alike are responsible for their behavior and that our judicial system is designed to address wrongdoing on an equal footing, whether by members of the community or law enforcement officials.”
Davis said the resignations would not interfere with police response to public order situations. He added that he was in contact with other law enforcement agencies to make sure there was a plan to provide protection.
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