A p ril 4. 2012
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Page 5
Killer Cop
c o n t i n u e d f r o m fron t
can-A m erican com m unity, also
spoke out against Frashour’s re
instatem ent.
Tom Steenson, the attorney
representing the Campbell family,
said h e’s come to the conclusion
that the police bureau’s training
division should be elim inated be
cause the city has lost the ability
to control the police union and
the police bureau.
In a 73-page ruling issued Friday
after 16 days of testimony, the arbi
trator ordered the city to reinstate
Frashour to his former job and make
up his lost wages.
Jane Wilkinson found Frashour's
observation that Cam pbell was
reaching into his waistband after
the other officer fired beanbag
rounds at him to be credible, based
on three independent witnesses who
described a similar movement.
"Court decisions and the Police
Bureau training have emphasized
that officers need not wait to see a
weapon before firing, so long as
there is the reasonable possibility,
considering all circumstances, that
the suspect is pulling a gun,"
Wilkinson wrote.
Mayor Sam Adams, who serves
W W W .pdxplan.com
as police commissioner, said the
city would appeal her ruling. The
case would likely go before the state
Employment Relations Board.
A dam s said he in fo rm ed
Campbell's mother of the ruling and
expressed his disappointment.
The Campbell family agreed to
settle a federal wrongful death suit
against the city for $1.2 million in
February.
Police Chief Mike Reese said it
was unreasonable for Frashour to
believe that Campbell posed an "im
mediate threat" of death or serious
injury. In a statement, Reese said he
had imposed "what I believed to be
appropriate discipline."
The Portland Police Association
called the case a tragedy for both
the Campbell family and the city.
"It was wrong, though, to com
pound that tragedy with political
decision-m aking that disregarded
the facts of what occurred that
night," said the union president,
O fficer Daryl Turner.
He said 25 Portland police of
ficers testified before the arbitra
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
tor that Frashour's use of deadly John Davis, the stepdad to Aaron Campbell, joins a protest at City Hall Monday organized by mem
force was reasonable and in full bers o f the Albina Ministerial Alliance. Campbell was the unarmed African American man who was
com pliance with bureau rules.
fatally shot by Portland police officer Ronald Frashour in 2010. Frashour lost his jo b over the
Associated Press contributed shooting, but got it back Friday with back pay when an arbitrator ruled the city did not have cause for
to this report.
the firing. The city will appeal the ruling.
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