Page 4
June 28, 2017
Adding Insult to Injury
C ontinued from f ront
ing attendant when the officer
screamed ‘gun,” Lea told the Port-
land Observer.
He said Steinbron and other of-
ficers then pointed their weapons
at him and instructed him to drop
to the ground, all while shouting
expletives. Lea complied with the
orders, and tried to explain that the
gun they saw in his car was owned
by him and he was fully licensed
to carry the weapon, having a per-
mit in his back pocket.
Steinbronn, a long time po-
lice officer who was involved in
an officer-involved shooting in
2006 that resulted in the death of
a 37-year-old Navy sailor at the
Eastport Plaza Military Recruiting
Facility, proceeded to arrest Lea
and charge him with recklessly
endangering another person.
Lea said while being driven to
jail, Steinbronn lectured him about
how he shouldn’t be allowed to
carry a gun. He said the officer
told him that his arrest was for
endangering the public by leaving
his firearm inside the vehicle, but
said the car was locked.
After being processed and
booked at the Justice Center jail,
however, Lea was released with-
out being charged. By the time
he’d been released, his booking
photo had already been published
in the local tabloid known as
“Busted.”
Lea eventually sued for $65,000
for the emotional distress caused
by his unnecessary arrest. His case
proceeded all the way to the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals, which
ultimately found that Steinbronn
was within his rights as a law en-
forcement officer to detain Lea.
The city had offered Lea
$20,000 to settle before the case
went to trial; however, Lea opted
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to bring the case before a judge.
Now that the 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals has ruled in favor of the
officers, Lea is responsible for
paying the city’s court fees, which
total just under $8,000.
A memorandum prepared by
the court says that while “The of-
ficers’ approach was perhaps an
overreaction,” that “Steinbronn’s
use of force – which resulted in no
physical injury to Lea – was rea-
sonable.”
Lea, however, still describes
the behavior of Steinbronn and the
other officers as dangerous. He
says that interactions like his can
only serve to damage police-com-
munity relationships.
“I was still taken to the ground
with guns to my head, even though
they had my concealed carry per-
mit in hand,” said Lea. “I didn’t
know whether he was going to kill
me at the time.”
Lea says that he was seeking
a public apology, not money, by
pursuing the lawsuit against the
city.
“I went to jail for nothing, I was
in ‘Busted’ and I wasn’t treated
fairly,” said Lea. “He didn’t have
a right to do that.”
Lea, who has accrued misde-
meanor charges in the past, adds
that there is a double standard for
law enforcement officers who in-
timidate and racially profile sus-
pects.
“When I used to be in the street
and did things that were wrong, I
had to stand up in court and apol-
ogize,” Lea explained. “That’s no
more than they should to a citizen,
right?”
In a statement issued to the
Portland Observer, Rob Yamachi-
ka, the Deputy City Attorney
who litigated the case, defended
the court’s decision saying that it
would not be fair to pass the legal
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fees of the case on to Portland’s
taxpayers.
Lea, however, says that he is a
taxpayer.
“I’ve worked most of my life
here in Portland,” Lea said. “I pay
my taxes like everyone else.”
The city has offered to reduce
the court fees to $5,000 if Lea
agrees to pay it in two installments
before the end of the month. Lea
says that he’s refusing to pay the
fees, because that would acknowl-
edge wrongdoing on his behalf.
“I did everything that I was
supposed to do as a citizen,” Lea
said, adding, “It can be erased if
you can take it from $8,000 down
to $5,000.”
In a letter addressed to Ya-
machika stating that Lea is reject-
ing the City’s offer to reduce the
court fees to $5,000 his attorney,
Benjamin Haile, explained that
Lea wants to see police officers
held accountable for unnecessary
escalations.
“Lea brought this case against
the city because he cares about
improving his city and changing
patterns of racial profiling by the
PPB,” Haile wrote.
Lea says that the City Attor-
ney’s office has rejected his re-
quests to arrange a meeting with
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.
Yamachika responded to Haile’s
letter by stating that while he em-
pathizes with Lea’s attempt to im-
prove the city, he didn’t see how
the case was racially motivated.
While he is grateful that the in-
cident in 2011 didn’t result in his
death, Lea says that he feels sty-
mied by a court system that is pun-
ishing him for reviewing a police
officer’s unnecessary use of force.
“It’s about that officer apolo-
gizing to me,” said Lea. “I pay
you guys, just like everybody else
around here.”
son last month, were mentioned as
examples of escalating violence
impacting people of color.
The gathering also covered
ways that the city’s black commu-
nity can fight back against gentri-
fication and displacement from in-
ner north and northeast Portland.
Herndon called on community
members to come up with spe-
cific policies and steps that local
governments could take to help
black residents return to their in-
ner-Portland communities.
Education issues were also ad-
dressed at the meeting. Herndon
said that Portland Public Schools
should let black students attend
Jefferson High School, regardless
of where they live. He also said
that the district should renovate
the school’s building, even though
it was not part of the bond mea-
sure passed by voters last month.
The need for Portland’s black
community to come together to
fight back against white suprem-
acist violence, gentrification and
educational disparities was em-
phasized.
Hopson and Herndon also urged
attendees to show their support at
last weekend’s annual Good in the
Hood festival, which had been tar-
geted by racist threats. The three
day event and parade drew wide-
spread support and was held under
added security,including local and
FBI law enforcment, without any
incidents.