June 24, 2020
Page 5
Suit Claims Unjust Force on Young Black Male
Sheriff denies neck hold was used
The mother of a young African
American male filed a $300,000
lawsuit Thursday, saying three
sheriff’s deputies pinned him to
the ground at the Clackamas Town
Center Mall — one by press-
ing a knee on his neck, after the
12-year-old witnessed a fight and
was walking away.
The incident happened last
August, over nine months before
widespread national outrage over
the killing of George Floyd af-
ter he was put in a similar hold
by Minneapolis police. The boy,
Ka’Mar Benbo, is now 13 but was
12 at the time and the friends he
was with repeatedly told Clacka-
mas County deputies his age, the
lawsuit said.
In an emailed statement, Sheriff
Craig Roberts disputed the allega-
tions and said an investigation did
not find any evidence that a deputy
placed a knee on the boy’s neck.
The deputies were responding to
a call about a “large group of ju-
veniles following and physically
assaulting a female juvenile” and
Benbo was briefly detained and
handcuffed because he was the
only person who refused to follow
orders from deputies, Roberts said.
“We do not train deputies to re-
strict a person’s airway or impede
their ability to breathe. It was de-
termined the involved deputies
followed training and policy,” he
wrote, adding that the sheriff’s
department participated in a “lis-
tening session” last October over
concerns about the incident.
Roberts said the investigation
included a review of photos and
videos and interviews with wit-
nesses and deputies. But Benbo’s
Video released by a Portland law firm shows a Clackamas County Sheriff’s Deputy restraining a
12-year-old black male at Clackamas Town Center last August, and a photo taken after the incident
shows bruises to his head. A lawsuit claims a Clackamas County sheriff’s deputy used unjust force by
placing his knee on the boy’s neck.
him not to move and don’t reach
for anything,” said McDavid.
The deputies ultimately let
Benbo go and no criminal charges
were filed. The lawsuit says Ben-
bo suffered scrapes and bruises,
headaches, loss of sleep and feel-
ings of racial stigmatization and
“fear of police.”
McDavid filed a complaint the
day after the incident with the
A family photo shows Ka’Mar Benbo in July, when he was 12.
(Photo courtesy Jarena McDavid)
mother, Jarena McDavid, was not
interviewed and neither was the
child, the family’s attorney, accord
to Jason Kafoury, the family’s at-
torney.
“They elbow him in the head
and then they take him to the
ground, handcuff him and put
the knee to the neck and leave
him there for several minutes,”
Kafoury said. “No police report
was generated and they never in-
terviewed my client about what
happened.”
Chris Owen, spokesman for
the Clackamas County District
Attorney, said nothing had been
submitted to prosecutors on the
incident. “If we get presented the
necessary information, we will
certainly evaluate it,” he said.
Kafoury said Benbo was a
witness to a fight between two
girls he didn’t know at Clacka-
mas Town Center, which is in the
suburbs south of Portland. Mall
security called police and as Ben-
bo and his friends were leaving
the mall’s parking lot, responding
deputies grabbed him by the arm,
Kafoury said.
Benbo’s mother said one of her
son’s friends called her to tell her
what was happening after Benbo
screamed out, “Please, call my
mom!”
“It was terrifying. I didn’t know
what was happening. I just wanted
sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s of-
fice wrote her a letter saying “we
have completed a thorough inves-
tigation” and the deputy was ex-
onerated.
“I can only imagine the fear a
parent has for their child of color
engaging with police. I know that
there is nothing I can say to make
their worry go away. What I can
say is: I will do my part to make
sure that we use appropriate force
and that every use of force contin-
ues to be reviewed by my agency,”
Roberts said in his statement.
Authorities told McDavid they
didn’t call her about the incident
at the time because her son wasn’t
injured, she said. The lawsuit in-
cludes photographs that show
c ontinued on p age 12