A cop who shot a fleeing unarmed man in the back has just been ordered to be reinstated to the force by a state arbitrator. The man who was killed ran away after police started shooting at him with bean bag bullets, as he attempted to flee the gun fire, a cop took an AR-15 rifle and shot him in the back.
Via Oregon Live:
A state arbitrator has ruled in Portland police union's favor, saying fired Portland Officer Ronald Frashour should get his job back.
The union's challenge of Frashour's November 2010 termination largely rested on the testimony of bureau training instructors who say Frashour followed his training when he used deadly force against Aaron Campbell on Jan. 29, 2010. The trainers were set to testify in federal court as well that they were never consulted before Chief Mike Reese and Mayor Sam Adams let Frashour go.
Frashour was fired for fatally shooting Campbell, an unarmed 25-year-old African American man, in the back with an AR-15 rifle.
Campbell, distraught and suicidal over his brother's death that day, emerged from a Northeast Portland apartment, with his back toward officers and his hands behind his head. Officer Ryan Lewton, who said he was trying to get Campbell to put his hands in the air, fired six bean bag rounds at him. Campbell turned and ran toward a parked car. Frashour fired a single shot at Campbell from the rifle, killing him.
Reese found it unreasonable for Frashour to believe that Campbell posed an "immediate threat" of death or serious injury. He found Frashour seemed to only focus on his AR-15 rifle without noticing what was going on around him, and refused to acknowledge that the six beanbag rounds that struck Campbell before the fatal shot could have caused a pain reaction, such as running away.
But the arbitrator found the city didn't prove "just cause" to terminate Frashour, and that a reasonable officer could have concluded that Campbell was armed, and that when he ran, "there was sufficient evidence for a finding that Mr. Campbell made motions that appeared to look like he was reaching for a gun."
"This was a very tragic case, one where the Monday-morning quarterback has the clear advantage when divining what went wrong,'' wrote arbitrator Jane Wilkinson, a Lake Oswego attorney, in her 73-page ruling.
But she said she rested her decision on constitutional law and Portland police directives.
"Although it turned out that Mr. Campbell did not have a gun with him in the parking lot, Graham (case law) and its progeny consistently emphasize that "20-20 hindsight" must be avoided,'' she wrote.
"In the instant case, although Mr. Campbell had not committed a crime and displayed some behavior showing surrender and compliance (although this behavior was inconsistent), the Arbitrator concludes that it was reasonable to believe that he could be armed, and that when he ran, there was sufficient evidence for a finding that Mr. Campbell made motions that appeared to look like he was reaching for a gun.''
The arbitrator ordered the city to reinstate Frashour to his former job as a police officer and to make him whole for lost wages. Read the full story here
|
