A p ril 07. 2004
(Tlje ‘P ortlanh (Observer
Page A3
Officer Accused of Excessive Force History | Police Bullet
Cop who shot
Perez previously
accused of
brutality
Hit Motorist
in Heart
Autopsy finds
victim held high
level of cocaine
BY J a YMEE R. ClJTl
T he P ortland O bserver
The officer who shot and killed Ja­
son Jahar Perez after pulling him over
for a routine traffic stop March 28 was
accused of using excessive force
against another unarmed African
American motorist, in September.
A complaint was filed with the In­
ternal Affairs Division on Sept. 11
following the incident in which North
Precinct Officer Jason Sery was ac­
cused of beating a man with a club
atterpulling himoverforplaying music
too loudly.
A north Portland mother said she
had flashbacks to Rodney King's
beating in Los Angeles, when she,
along with a large group of neigh­
bors, watched her son get beaten by
Sery and another officer.
The accusation came just days af­
ter the Albina Ministerial Alliance an­
nounced its findings about the deadly
May 5 police shooting of Kendra
James, a 21-year-old African Ameri­
can mother of two.
Police officials told a different story
about the events at the time. Sgt.
Brian Schmautz, a police spokesman
at that time, described the incident as
a case where the suspect. Daemon
Bowman, became aggressive toward
officers and identified himself as a
gang member.
“From our perspective it was a very
straightforward situation where a per­
son became unnecessarily violent to­
ward the officers and screamed at of­
ficers," Schmautz said.
One o ffic er was injured in a
struggle with Bowman, reporting pain
to both knees, an injury to his shin
and swelling around the knee cap.
Bowman, 29, was pulled over at his
apartment building on north Lombard
Street. He said police told him his
music was too loud. He also was driv­
ing on a suspended license.
Bowman said he was not given the
chance to cooperate with officers, but
photo by
M ark W ashington /T hf . P ortland O bserver
A photograph taken late last summer shows Toni Allen and her son, Daemon Bowman in the parking lot of their
north Portland apartment building, where they say Portland Police Officer Jason Sery and another officer beat Bow­
man with a baton. Sery is the officer who shot and killed James Jahar Perez, 28, during a March 28 traffic stop in
north Portland.
instead, was slammed face-first into
the dirt, maced and struck more than
20 times by police with batons.
Photos taken the following day show
Bowman with scrapes and several large,
swollen bruises to his buttocks.
Schmautz, reading from the police re­
port, said the officer struck Bowman "at
least one time” to subdue him.
crowd became unruly and shouted
obscenities at officers, Bowman was
brought to the Justice Center and was
arrested for resisting arrest, assault
and disorderly conduct.
A judge sentenced him to 15 months
of probation for resisting arrest, and
dropped the other two charges.
Bowman’s mother, Toni Allen, said
'They were heating him like a dog.
They hit him about 30 times.
- North Portland resident James Carterwho said he witnessed Portland Police Officer
Jason Sery and another officer use excessive force during a disturbance last summer
Bowman admitted to having been
involved in gangs in California, but
said he has no gang ties in Portland.
He said officers harassed him about
having gang relations when they saw
tattoos on his hand.
Schmautz said that because the
officers shouted racist epitaphs at
the crowd and threatened to mace
them, as well.
James Carter, a resident at the com­
plex where Bowman and Allen live,
said, “They were beating him like a
dog. They hit him about 30 times."
In another complaint, Sery was
named with a second officer in an
August lawsuit claiming excessive
force against a man knocked uncon­
scious at the Astro gas station at
2809 N. Portland Blvd. The city paid
a $5,000 settlement in that case, but
said Sery arrived at the scene after
the man had been taken into custody.
In yet another incident, Sery was
accused of being in a heated encoun­
ter with a man who said he just
stepped out of his house on North
Fox Street on Jan. 16, 2003. Darren
Luethe, 28, said he walked out to lock
up his van when he heard an officer
scream for him to get out of the car.
He said Sery accused him of failing
to use a turn signal, grabbed him by
the arm, prevented him from entering
his house to obtain identification and
handcuffed him. He was charged with
driving uninsured, driving while sus­
pended and having a broken taillight.
(AP) — A bullet to the heart killed
an unarmed black man shot three
times by police during a traffic stop,
according to autopsy results released
Friday.
James Jahar Perez, 28, was struck
in the left arm and the left side o f his
chest by the other two bullets, said Dr.
Larry Lewman, deputy state medical
examiner.
Perez also had an “extremely high
level" o f cocaine in his system ,
Lewman said.
His family accuses police of plant­
ing the drugs.
Perez was shot March 28 by Of­
ficer Jason Sery after Sery, 29, and his
partner. Officer Sean Macomber, 30,
stopped Perez for failure to use a turn
signal.
Police radio logs show the shots
were fired 24 seconds after the offic­
ers called in the stop.
Lewman noted that a Taser gun
fired by Macomber likely had no ef­
fect because the second of two darts
needed to administer an electric shock
failed to make contact with Perez.
He said two plastic bags containing
what appear to be drugs were recov­
ered from Perez’s mouth during the
autopsy. Two additional bags were
found in his pants pocket. The con­
tents are being analyzed by the Or­
egon State Police.
Blood test also showed marijuana
use in addition to the high levels of
cocaine, Lewman said.
Cocaine users typically build up a
tolerance to the drug that allows them
to use increasingly larger amounts,
triggering unpredictable behavior,
paranoia, seizures and sometimes
death, Lewman said.
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