Police officers disclosed false hit-and-run allegations against Commissioner Hardesty in retaliation, investigation found – Blogtown

[ad_1]

Mercury staff

A letter from the Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) internal affairs department confirmed that three police officers, including former police union chief Brian Hunzeker, were responsible for the information leak which led to several media outlets. falsely report that City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty had committed a hit and run in March.

Sponsored

The October letter, first obtained by OPB, details how a false accusation was ultimately reported as fact by the Oregonian and several conservative media channels.

The PPB investigation, which was opened at Hardesty’s request, centers on a 911 call made on March 3, in which a caller accused Hardesty of backing up his vehicle in southeast Portland before fleeing the scene. While PPB later discovered that the appellant had mistakenly identified Hardesty as the suspect, the investigation revealed that officers wasted no time in disclosing this information as a fact.

The investigation names three officers: Hunzeker, who was president of the Portland Police Association (PPA) at the time of the incident, Ken Le and Kerri Ottoman.

According to the investigation, Hunzeker called a reporter to tell him about the alleged crime, then sent him a copy of the transcript of the 911 call. PPB commander Kristina Jones, who examined the incident for the PPB’s internal affairs division, noted that Hunzeker “admitted” that the acts violated the PPB’s guidelines. Based on today’s media reports, it can be concluded that the reporter Hunzeker contacted was employed by the Oregonian.

Jones discovered that Hunzeker leaked this information in retaliation to Hardesty who spoke negatively about the PPB agents. Specifically, Hunzeker told investigators that the leak “was a response to Commissioner Hardesty’s false allegation that officers started fires during the civil unrest,” a claim Hardesty made in 2020 and for which he is concerned. is then excused.

The investigation also confirmed that Le shared a screenshot of the transcript of the 911 call with his friend, a 911 dispatcher at the Office of Emergency Communications (BOEC) who was not on duty at that time. This action violated the policy of the PPB.

And, PPB found out that Ottoman leaked the same call recording screenshot to his friend, Gabe Johnson, director of a conservative group called “Coalition to Save Portland”. Ottoman explained to investigators that she was “letting off steam” when she shared this information. At the time, Johnson shared this information on his group’s Facebook page, and the news quickly spread to other conservative media online.

Jones concluded that none of the agents’ actions were racially motivated, a concern Hardesty raised in his original complaint.

This letter supports the claims made by Hardesty in a lawsuit it filed against PPA, the City of Portland, Hunzeker and the Ottoman on December 13. The lawsuit alleges the leak was racially and politically motivated because Hardesty is the first black woman to sit. City council and longtime critic of the police bureau.

“The information leaks were made with genuine malice because they were made either with knowledge that the statements were false or with reckless disregard for whether the statements were false or not,” the report reads. trial.

The lawsuit does not name Le, but accuses an unidentified BOEC member of sharing the false report with their colleagues, identifying the information as “Juicy Juicy.” from Ottoman, and $ 1 – “nominal damages” – from the City of Portland.

Although the internal affairs investigation is now complete, the office has not made public the disciplinary action the officers faced for their misconduct. The three agents remain in the employ of the PPB. However, in March, Hunzeker resigned his post as chairman of the PPA, citing a “serious and isolated mistake” that was not “motivated by malice”.

Support the Portland Mercury

Others in the city have already been reprimanded. A previous report from Willamette Week found that BOEC suspended three BOEC dispatchers in July for their role in disseminating this leaked information.

The October letter was released to the public on Wednesday after months of back and forth between Hardesty’s attorneys, the city attorney’s office and the media. The OPB reports that its initial request for a letter was rejected by the city attorney’s office, but OPB’s subsequent appeal to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office was approved this week. According to OPB, prosecutor Mike Schmidt ruled that the publication of the letter was in the public interest.

Correction: A previous version of this story indicated that Captain Tina Jones spoke directly with the agents under investigation, when she was only reviewing information gathered by other PPB investigators who had questioned them.

[ad_2]