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PORTLAND OBSERVER
Volume XV, Number 29
May 15. 1985
25C Copy
Two Sections
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Verdict : Homicide
by Lamia Duke
GRASSROOT NEWS. N .W .
Deliberating for two hours and nine
minutes and absorbing inform ation
only worthy o f belief, the inquest
ju ry ’s verdict was homicide.
Tom Steenson, attorney fo r the
Stevenson fam ily, defined homicide
as “ the causing o f the death o f an
other individual by another individ
ual. In this case it was the police o ff i
cers. It was more than negligence;
it was not an accident and it was not
natural It was caused by the sleeper
hold and the failure to administer
(P R
Sgt. Joseph Huff, trainer for the Portland Police
Department, after explaining how the application
and uae of the carotid-sleeper hold is taught in the
department, demonstrates how a shorter officer can
overcome a height difference before applying the
"hold." Some account» of the incident indicate O ffi
cer Barbour jumped off the ground to get hia arm
around Stevenson’s neck, a tactic not taught to
officers.
11
i*
tecting if a victim is breathing before applying CPR.
Although there ere varying account» relating to
Stevenson’» breathing — from constant but labored
to A.A. Ambulance,
there was no attempt at pulmonary resuscitation.
(Photo»: Richard J. Brown)
Although District Attorney Michael
Schrunk's line o f questioning favored
the police. Steenson was not surprised
by the verdict.
“ As the three days o f testimony
unfolded, the evidence became com
ixTIinir.” he added
Ronnie Herndon, co-chair o f the
Black United Front, who attended
all three days o f the inquest, said he
was happy, surprised and encouraged
by t he verdict
"T h a t was what we hoped for. I
was surprised by it because o f the un
balanced way the inquest was handled.
However, the inquest jury just looked
at the facts and came up with the
verdict," Herndon said
A grim D A left the courtroom
without answers to questions except
to say that he was unaware o f any
procedural questions. But throughout
the three day inquest, Steenson,
Herndon and a number o f onlixikers
confronted Schrunk outside the court
room regarding his line o f questioning
This reporter witnessed Avel Gord-
ley questioning Schrunk on his refusal
to pursue whether racial slurs were
involved. Schrunk said he hadn't
heard race brought up. But Gordlcy
repled that he never asked.
The inquest verdict is not admis
sible in the grand jury proceedings
which w ill begin on Thursday,
May I6.
Stevenson widow files
$15 million damage suit
by Lanttu Duke
GRASSROOT NEWS, N.W . — On
May 13, Susanna Stevenson, widow o f
Tony Stevenson who died as a result o f
police action, tiled a 15 million dollar
damage suit in U.S. District Court for
wrongful death and Civil Rights viola
tions.
The civil suit requested a jury tnal
and listed Gary Barbour, Bruce Pantley,
Thomas Mitchell, Penny Harrington
and the City of Portland (Bud Clark)
as defendants.
filed by Tom Steenson, attorney for
the Stevenson family, the preliminary
statement said, " The defendants caused
iv allowed the use o f the lethal carat id/
choke hold under circumstances where
deadly force was not justified."
Tlie suit added that the defendants
failed to provide any cardiopulmo
nary resuscitation or other timely
medical treatment to Stevenson once
the hold rendered him unconscious,
“ until directed to do so by emergency
medical personnel who arrived at the
scene eight or 10 minutes later.”
The suit claims, "T h e conduct o f
defendants Barbour and Pantley
herein is consistent with their patterns
and practice o f using excessive force
and racial epithets against Black c iti
zens in Port hind.”
Steenson alleges that Stevenson
was maintaining crowd control to pre
vent Blacks and whites from inter
vening in a struggle between an al
leged shoplifter and a store clerk.
" A t the time o f the police officers’
arrival, a verbal exchange between
Mr. Stevenson and the service station
attendant was taking place. 'When
Mr. Stevenson was approached by the
police officers, both he and the w it
nesses made every attempt to explain
his role in the incident and identify
himself to the police officers. Those
efforts were ignored by the officers,”
alleges the suit.
The suit contends Stevenson did
not forcibly resist or strike any o ff i
cer, and adds, "Even if the assault
and use o f the carolid/choke hold was
justified in this instance, the carotid/
choke was applied improperly by said
defendants."
The suit also stated, "O n A p ril 20,
1985, defendants Harrington and
Portland had a policy, practice or
custom, either written or de facto, o f
allowing the use o f the lethal carotid/
choke hold by their police officers
under circumsances not justifying the
use o f deadly physical force.
"Defendants Harrington and P ort
land failed, either negligently, reck
lessly or intentionally to provide ade
quate training discipline and supervi
sion o f their police officers, so as
to prevent the acts alleged.”
Minora Yasui talk» to Kikue Kanayama and bar »on Bill Sugahiro
after ha addressed a moating of the local chapter of the Japanese
American Citizen League.
(Photo: Richard J Brown)
Yasui documents internment
by Robert Lothian
Minoru Yasui was an attorney prat
being in Portland in 1942 when the
government ordered 120,000 Japanese
Americans living on the West Coast
relocated to camps in Idaho, Utah
and California.
Yasui, who was "O regon born and
b re d ," he said, thought the govern
ment order was racist and unconstitu
tional. He decided to resist evacua
tion, and so did tw o other men. They
were arrested, jailed and eventually
sent to the camps.
Yasui is a 1939 graduate o f the U n i
versity o f Oregon Law School. Iron-
ita lly, he had tried to enlist in the
U.S. m ilitary before the relocation
order, but was refused.
Over 40 years later, Yasui is leading
a legal fight to overturn the convic
tions and declare the relocation order
and a subsequent Supreme Court
decision unconstitutional.
He traveled from Denver, where he
practices law, to Portland last week
for a court hearing on the issue While
here he addressed a meeting o f the
local chapter o f the Japanese-
American Citizens League.
Yasui announced that he and Fred
Korematsu had their convictions
overturned recently. " I t was an out-
The testimony
Last week during a public inquest
this version o f what occurred became
public. From throwing the alleged
shoplifter into a police car to ignoring
Lloyd Stevenson's pleas to show his
ID, witnesses pieced together this
account:
Burnell Wilson Jr., one o f the eye
witnesses closest to the police and
Stevenson, said the gas station at
tendant (Greg (,'avic) threatened Stev
enson with a gun or a knife. Cavic
had called the police and said he was
headed over to the 7-11 with a 45-
caliber handgun.
"Stevenson was saying, 'Come on
with it.’ The police (Bruce Pantley
and Gary Barbour) came over and
said to break it up. We told the o ffi
cers the whole lime that they had the
wrong guy.”
Four eyewitnesses said at no lime
did Stevenson hit or push an officer.
Wilson said tI k - officers immediate
ly jumped on Stevenson. “ He wasn’t
struggling. And all he said was, 'Let
me show you my I D '.”
Wilson added that the hold was
applied to Stevenson while he was
standing, Barbour on his back with
his arm uround Stevenson's throat,
Tom Mitchell and Pantley on each
arm. "W hen they went to the ground,
I heard Stevenson gasp and then he
went lim p Jerry Crain yelled out my
car window, 'You guys have killed
h im '!”
Wilson said Stevenson lay there for
five minutes. " I don't understand
why they d idn't take the lime to
listen."
Crain said when he and Wilson a r
rived at the store, Stevenson was
preventing onlixikers from interven
ing in an altercation between the clerk
and the shoplifter. "W e kept telling
the police that they had the wrong guy
but they wouldn’t listen," Crain
noted.
Perry Bailey, the 7-11 clerk who
asked Stevenson to help, said he also
told the police that Stevenson was
the wrong guy. "T h e police told me
to leave well enough alone.”
The refusal o f the police to imme
diately administer CPR contributed
to Stevenson's death as he lay hand
cuffed, face down in a parking lot ol
a 7 11 in Northeast Portland. And
the sleeper hold was applied tix i long,
stated M ultnom ah C ounty Medical
Examiner Larry Newman.
Newman, who performed the au
topsv, also added that the evidence he
reviewed showed that Stevenson had
been left on the ground for at least
four minutes prior to receiving any
medical treatment.
His conclusion complements and
corroborates what some eyewitnesses
saw A p ril 20 as Stevenson’s desire to
assist a volatile situation resulting in
police over reaction and his death.
"T h e police failed to recognize
the gravity o f the situation he was
ill," Newman added.
The ambulance technician who
arrived on the scene after Pantley ran
across the street to request help had to
tell the police to remove Stevenson's
handcuffs. He said Stevenson wasn't
breathing, nor did he have a pulse.
D i. James Rilenbcrry o f Holiday
Park Hospital, said Stevenson was
essentially dead on arrival.
Edward Meaney, one o f the eye
witnesses, said he saw a man down
while he was driving south on Union
Avenue. "T he police weren’t doing
anything. I drove around the block
and the officers were in the same po
sition. It was noticeable that nothing
was happening.” Meaney said.
The inquest ju ry viewed the train
ing tapes on the use o f the carotid-
artery hold. The tapes indicated that
the hold should be applied after the
person is down.
Officer Barbour said he applied
the hold after Stevenson was down,
but Officer Bert Combs said Barbour
definitely applied the hold while
Stevenson was standing He added
that he heurd Stevenson's offer to
show his identification to the o ffi
cers three times.
standing victory,” he said. Gordon
Hirabayashi's trial conies up soon
in Seattle, he said.
But on his case to have the reloca-
tion order overturned and restore
rights and privileges to those who
cluding Yasui, spent several months
in a makeshift camp at the Livestock-
Exposition yards in North Portland
Yasui was jailed for 10 months at
Rocky Butte Jail, in solitary confine
tnenl, and then he was sent to the
were sent to the camps, Yasui de
scribed government fixit-dragging.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert
Belloni refused to fact finding on the
issue, even though Yasui’s legal team
had amassed 400 pages o f documents,
he said. "B c llo n i’s comment was,
‘ What are we here fo r, I haven't read
these papers," according to Yasui.
" I t almost seems as if they are
waiting for us to die,” to avoid con
fronting the issue," said Yasui.
"W e ’ re going to wash dirty linen in
public and it's not going to make
certain people (in government) hap
py,” he said.
Thousands o f Japanese Americans
are not willing to let the issue die,
said Yasui "W e want a statement
that says the government was wrong
in 1942, and we won’t settle for less
than that,” he said, pounding a table
for emphasis.
The government’s reason for the
camp at Minedoka, Idaho. He hasn't
forgotten the guard lowers, the harbed
wire and the machine guns.
He compared the experience to
America's equivalent o f the H olo
caust. Racist, anti-Japanese hysteria
was evident in newspaper headlines
from that time.
After release from the camp, Yasui
settled in Denver, where he married,
began raising a family and passed the
Colorado bar exam He met with
resistance to practicing law. "T hey
said I was a person ot bad moral char
acter," he said. Altogether, said
Yasui, the rclixa tio n experience t<x>k
four years out o f his life.
Portland's
Japanese-Amencans
compared stories after Yasui's talk
Kikue Kaneyama and her fam ily from
Gresham "sold everything we had"
before being sent to the camp, she
said. She described the feeling o f
despair that permeated the camp.
Upon returning to Gresham, she
said, the fam ily had to start over from
scratch and laced antagonism from
neighbors. "W e weren’ t welcomed,
really, not in the restaurants.” said
Kaneyama.
" It 's just like i f a person was raped,
you never forget it , " she said " It 's
always with you throughbout your
life tim e ."
rctocMKNi was intelligence pointing
toward an extensive Japanese spy
system in the U.S. But Yasui con
tends that the intelligence was false,
that not one Japanese was convicted
as a spy.
Approximately 3,MX) Japanese
Americans were relocated from P ort
land, according to Yasui Many, in