Portland council overturns chief, finds that officer cited woman for jaywalking in retaliation for her filming police

Retaliation complaint stemming from jaywalking citation

Kristin Bowling got her chance before City Council to argue that the police cited her for jaywalking on May 15, 2017, in retaliation for exercising her legal right to take photos of officers.

Portland’s City Council on Thursday voted 3-1 to adopt a citizen committee’s finding that a Portland officer cited a woman for jaywalking outside North Precinct in retaliation for exercising her legal right to photograph police.

Mayor Ted Wheeler, who serves as police commissioner, was the lone council member to back Chief Danielle Outlaw’s decision that Kristin Bowling’s complaint wasn’t proven or "not sustained.'' Commissioner Nick Fish wasn’t present.

The vote marked the first time the council has overturned a Police Bureau finding on a complaint and then upheld the allegation, according to Rachel Mortimore, assistant program manager for the Independent Police Review, the intake center for complaints against police.

The decision came nearly two years to the date that the officer issued the jaywalking citation.

Wheeler, immediately recognizing that he was on the losing end of the vote, criticized the process.

He said it didn’t seem fair that a simple majority of the council could overturn decisions of the chief and the police commissioner on what he called a personnel discipline matter.

Commissioners Jo Ann Hardesty, Chloe Eudaly and Amanda Fritz voted to overturn the bureau’s finding and uphold the retaliation complaint against Officer Neil Parker.

"It’s amazing,'' Bowling said after the vote. She thanked the chair and vice chair of the Citizen Review Committee, which hears appeals of bureau findings on complaints made by the public against officers.

About 5:15 p.m. on May 15, 2017, Bowling said she crossed Northeast Emerson Street while taking photos of armored vehicles entering the North Precinct parking lot, across from the Blazers Boys & Girls Club. She said she was concerned by the demonstration of police power as parents were picking up children from the club.

Parker told investigators he was driving the Special Emergency Reaction Team’s armored truck, known as the Bear, into the precinct’s lot and noticed a woman on Northeast Sixth Avenue who seemed very interested in the truck.

"She had a lot of disgust on her face, pulled out her phone and started following us down Sixth and onto NE Emerson. I watched in the passenger side mirror as the female walked out into Emerson Street to take photos or video of us,'' Parker told investigators, according to a summary report.

Citing a concern about a spike in police ambushes and vandalism to police property and cars, the officer said he decided to identify the woman and cite her for being in the road.

“It’s just one of those, you know, she had made it so overt to me,’’ Parker said. “It caught my attention enough, you know … I don’t care about people recording me but something about this whole event had spurred me on to at least want to go talk to her. And so, I was going to write her a citation for the improper placement on the highway.’’

Kristin Malone, who chairs the all-volunteer Citizen Review Committee, told the council at a prior hearing that the committee found the officer ticketed Bowling because she had been taking photos of police and appeared to be disdainful of the police tactical unit and its truck. She urged commissioners to consider the record before them and Parker’s own statements.

Hardesty said overturning the chief’s finding was the “only reasonable choice.’’

Eudaly said it was clear Bowling had committed a minor violation of pedestrian law, yet others were doing the same and weren’t cited that day.

Fritz said she usually finds Outlaw’s positions reasonable, but in this case, the commissioner said she couldn’t based on Parker’s own explanations to investigators about why he had stopped and cited Bowling.

Wheeler said he respected his colleagues but disagreed and then cited all the reasons he supported the chief’s findings: The officer had noted there had been recent vandalism of police cars outside North Precinct. The officer observed a violation and had discretion to stop her. A judge had found the jaywalking citation lawful. The officer involved said he wasn’t retaliating, Wheeler noted. And, a police commander, the chief, the director of the Independent Police Review all found the allegation couldn’t be proven, he said.

The Police Bureau now must adopt the retaliation finding against Parker. But it’s unclear if he’ll face discipline for it.

Under the bureau’s discipline guide, retaliation by an officer would draw discipline ranging from a two-day to three-week suspension without pay if it’s the officer’s first violation and there’s no aggravating circumstances.

“I’m very eager to see what actually happens,’’ Bowling said.

Officer Daryl Turner, who represents the officer as president of the Portland Police Association, said he couldn’t comment, because the case will now go back before the chief to determine any discipline.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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