The Oregonian | By Maxine Bernstein | December 20, 2021
The former Forest Grove officer accused of criminal mischief after a resident reported he stumbled while off-duty into her family’s driveway early Halloween morning 2020, banged on their Black Lives Matter flag and kicked at their front door has settled a civil lawsuit in an unusual fashion.
Steven Teets apologized to the homeowner, Mirella Castaneda, and has agreed to relinquish his police certification and meet face-to-face with Castaneda before a restorative justice facilitator.
Teets also will donate $2,000 to the Mental Health Association of Portland, according to the settlement.
“The goal of this pro bono case was accountability,” said Michael Fuller, Castaneda’s attorney.
Teets — who was fired from Forest Grove police on Dec. 9, according to state records — continues to face second-degree criminal mischief and second-degree disorderly conduct allegations, both misdemeanors, in Washington County Circuit Court. He also could lose his police certification if found guilty of the misdemeanor charges.
“Teets had previously offered to settle this civil case but our client would not accept the offer because it did not require Teets to relinquish his police certifications,” Fuller said.
Last week, Teets agreed to both relinquish his certification and attend a restorative justice meeting as conditions of the settlement, according to Fuller.
Teets’ defense lawyer Derek Ashton had attempted to obtain a global agreement with Castaneda that would have included in her civil settlement a resolution of Teets’ pending criminal charges as well, but a Washington County judge denied the request.
Teets, 44, remains out of custody and is scheduled for trial on Feb. 9 in the Washington County criminal case.
Castaneda said she felt violated both by Teets’ alleged actions and how Forest Grove police initially handled the alleged misconduct of one of their own. She said she was relieved to learn Teets is no longer working for Forest Grove police but questioned why it took 14 months before Forest Grove police terminated him.
“I’m glad the police department made the right decision and let him go so that he might take some time now in focusing on his mental health and healing,” she told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Sunday night.
Teets’ lawyer did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
About 12:54 a.m. on Oct. 31, 2020, Castaneda called 911 to report a stranger banging on her house and trying to break into her family’s cars. Forest Grove officers who responded found Teets walking down the street about 50 yards from the home and recognized him as an off-duty officer. He was described as “highly intoxicated” and stumbling, according to a police summary.
The first Forest Grove officer to have contact with Teets on the street said she was surprised that he didn’t even recognize her, and other officers said Teets’ speech was so poor that they only could make out a few words, including “walking home,” “home,” and “friend’s house,” the summary said.
A short time later when Forest Grove police responded to the family’s emergency call, an officer didn’t say that police had anyone in custody or that they knew the suspect, the residents said. The officer instead asked if the neighbors would be able to recognize him.
Police also don’t have body camera video of Teets’ escort home because the officer who picked him up and gave him a ride home had a body camera that was not recording, a potential violation of department policy that’s now under investigation, officials said.
Forest Grove Officer Bradley Schuetz, 31, who picked up Teets and drove him home on Oct. 31, 2021, was later indicted and charged with first-degree official misconduct. Schuetz told investigators he had to help Teets in and out of his patrol car, assist Teets to his front door and unlock it because Teets wasn’t able to do so himself, according to the summary report.
Schuetz is accused of failing to initiate an investigation as required into Teets’ actions for his fellow officer’s benefit, according to the indictment. Schuetz has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is set for trial on Jan. 19.
Castaneda said she believes Teets targeted her home because of the Black Lives Matter flag hanging outside. Her civil suit accused Teets of terrorizing her family by yelling at them to fight as he banged on their front door, waking up her young son.
Castaneda said she will urge Teets during a future meeting “to take a good look inside and explore why my BLM flag caused him such violent and angry feelings.”
She said she intends to tell him the Black Lives Matter movement isn’t anti-police, “just anti-police killings due to unconscious/conscious biases and anti-police excessive force because of the same reasons.”
Teets, in an initial response to the complaint, denied targeting the home because of the flag.
He recently successfully asked a judge to delay his previously scheduled December trial until after Schuetz’s trial. Teets’ lawyer informed the court that he intended to call Scheutz as a witness, yet Scheutz’s lawyer alerted him that Scheutz would decline to testify and plead his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself before his own case is resolved.
Scheutz, who has been on paid administrative leave from the department since Nov. 30, 2020, is set for trial next month.
