The Oregonian | By Maxine Bernstein | November 11, 2020
Forest Grove resident Mirella Castaneda on Tuesday filed suit against the Forest Grove officer who is accused of criminal mischief at her property while he was off-duty early Halloween morning.
The suit alleges Steven Teets, 43, engaged in negligent trespass and invasion of privacy. It was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office issued a citation to Teets, charging him with second-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, after Forest Grove police responded to Castaneda’s 911 call, found Teets in the area and drove him home.
Castaneda said she and her husband found Teets in their driveway about 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 31 after he set off her husband’s truck alarm. The alarm awakened the couple. They saw a stranger then bang on a Black Lives Matter flag outside the couple’s garage and then rush to their front door, kicking and pounding on it, Castaneda said.
The suit was filed one day after Castaneda’s encounter with Teets was featured in an Oregonian/OregonLive story and done largely to ensure all police records, cellphone material and other documents are preserved, said attorney Michael Fuller, who represents Castaneda.
The suit alleges Teets intentionally targeted Castaneda’s home because of the Black Lives Matter flag outside and harassed her “because of her personal and political beliefs.”
Teets, a 10-year member of the Forest Grove Police Department, has been placed on administrative desk duty, pending the criminal allegation. He has declined comment on the encounter and his charge. Police didn’t issue any bias crime allegations against him.
Teets’ lawyer Derek Ashton said in a statement Wednesday, “These are stressful times for the strongest among us. Steven is addressing a personal issue for which he deserves support and understanding rather than condemnation.” Ashton noted that Teets is a 10-year Army veteran whose service included combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2009, he was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant, earned a bachelor’s degree, and became a Forest Grove police officer in 2010, Ashton said.
An outside agency has been asked to investigate how Forest Grove police responded to the call involving one of their officers. A body camera on the officer who picked up Teets not far from Castaneda’s home and drove him to his own home that morning wasn’t on or recording, a potential violation of department policy, Forest Grove police confirmed.
