The Oregonian | By Zane Sparling | May 03, 2024
Portland police Officer Curtis Brown failed to use less-lethal weapons or consider de-escalation tactics before fatally shooting a man experiencing a mental health crisis outside a Lloyd District motel, a jury ruled Friday.
The Multnomah County Circuit Court jury awarded $1,030,661 to the parents of Michael Townsend after finding the city of Portland liable for negligence in the death of their son.
Rachel Steven, Townsend’s young sister, said she hoped the verdict would lead to better training for police and dispatchers.
“We can’t bring Michael back,” she said. “But if we can just save one life through this, it’s all worth it.”
Townsend, 40, was staying at a Northeast Portland motel when he called 911 and asked for an ambulance ride to a hospital three years ago, warning first responders that he was high on methamphetamine and feeling suicidal.
Brown was serving as a back-up cover officer as he, Portland Fire emergency medical technicians and Officer Brett Emmons responded to the Motel 6 on Northeast Holladay Street about 7 p.m. June 24, 2021.
When they arrived, Townsend, 40, asked to go back to his room and appeared to change his mind about going to a hospital, according to grand jury transcripts and court papers based on the recollections of those at the scene.
Both officers were in their cars and preparing to leave when Townsend flagged them down, the records showed. The officers walked back into the motel parking lot, where Emmons told Townsend that he would need to pat down Townsend before he could be transported by first responders, according to the records.
Townsend became agitated and pulled a sharpened screwdriver out of his pocket, crying “do you want this” and lunging forward just as Brown pulled out his service pistol and fired the fatal shots, according to the court records and surveillance footage released by police.
Michael Fuller, the attorney for Townsend’s family, said it wasn’t in dispute that Brown feared for his life when he fired. But Fuller said the interaction never needed to reach such life-or-death stakes.
“The jury found that there were plenty of alternatives for less-lethal force that he declined to consider,” Fuller said. “Had he explored them, he could have spared the life of Michael Townsend.”
For instance, the Police Bureau could have sent members of its Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team, who have more crisis training than regular patrol officers, Fuller said, or Brown could have armed himself with the less-lethal projectile weapon he had in his trunk.
Tom Hastings, a professor of conflict resolution at Portland State University who testified during the trial, said because Brown was serving as a back-up officer, he should have let Emmons do the talking instead of crowding in and also speaking with Townsend.
“You don’t gang up on people,” Hastings said in an interview, “because it confuses them and it makes them feel disoriented.”
City attorneys argued there was no evidence that Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team members would have handled the case differently and that Brown had no time during the attack to grab a Taser or other less-lethal weapon.
The jury disagreed, finding Brown negligent and responsible for 67% of the situation, but also finding that Townsend’s actions contributed 33% to his death.
They awarded $1.5 million for pain and suffering to Townsend’s parents, but reduced the award 33% to account for Townsend’s actions.
