Crockett v. Portland Police

CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedOctober 23, 2019
Docket3:19-cv-01090
StatusUnknown

This text of Crockett v. Portland Police (Crockett v. Portland Police) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crockett v. Portland Police, (D. Or. 2019).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON

CHUCK CROCKETT, No. 3:19-cv-01090-HZ Plaintiff, OPINION & ORDER v.

PORTLAND POLICE and CITY OF PORTLAND,

Defendants.

Chuck Crockett 1771 NE Bryant St. Portland, OR 97211

Pro Se Plaintiff

Ryan C. Bailey City of Portland City Attorney’s Office 1221 SW Fourth Ave., Room 430 Portland, OR 97204

Attorney for Defendants HERNÁNDEZ, District Judge: Plaintiff Chuck Crockett brings this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Defendants City of Portland and Portland Police, alleging violations of his Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, as well as tort claims arising from Defendants’ alleged violation of state and federal laws. Defendants move to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be

granted. Plaintiff moves to remand to state court and for sanctions. The Court denies Plaintiff’s motion to remand and motion for sanctions and grants Defendants’ motion to dismiss in part. Plaintiff is granted leave to amend his First Amended Complaint. BACKGROUND The court takes the facts from Plaintiff’s Tort Claim (“first amended complaint” or “FAC”). On March 15, 2019, Plaintiff Chuck Crockett entered the North Portland Police Precinct to report a hate crime. First Am. Compl. 11, ECF 10. Plaintiff alleges that he asked the desk clerk to get an officer to take his report. Id. The desk clerk told Plaintiff that no officers were available to take his report and instructed him to call the non-emergency line to report the

crime. Id. Plaintiff told the desk clerk that he could see that two officers behind the clerk were doing nothing and asked that one of them take his report. Id. The clerk told Plaintiff a second time that no officers were available to take his report and told him to call the non-emergency line. Id. Plaintiff began to argue with the clerk about the clerk’s refusal to summon an officer to take his report. Id. Plaintiff told the clerk that a Caucasian male had been driving around in his car trying to assault African Americans and that the man posed an immediate threat to the public.

1 Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint is not paginated, so citations in this Opinion and Order to Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint are to the ECF page numbers. Id. According to Plaintiff, the clerk denied that the situation described by Plaintiff was an emergency and again instructed Plaintiff to call the non-emergency line to report the crime. Id. Plaintiff asserts that during his argument with the clerk, several Portland Police officers passed by, and the clerk did not ask any of them to take Plaintiff’s report. Id. at 2. Plaintiff tried to stop one of the officers, who refused to take his report. Id. Plaintiff told the officer that the

“encounter was [b]ullshit and racist.” Id. Plaintiff went outside and began to tell the officers who were outside the precinct that he was trying to report a hate crime and was being ignored. Id. The officers ignored him. Id. Plaintiff began to yell at officers to get their attention, and the officers continued to ignore him. Id. Eventually, Plaintiff found an African American officer who agreed to take his report. Id. According to Plaintiff, the officer who took his report and the sergeant on shift told Plaintiff that “the incident should have never taken place.” Id. Plaintiff claims Portland Police did not properly investigate the man he reported to have committed the hate crime. Id. at 4. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants violated his rights under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth

Amendments and perpetuated a pattern of racism in violation of Title III and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Id. at 2. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that he was discriminated against because of his race when Caucasian police officers refused to take his report of the hate crime and alleges that he has been subjected to involuntary servitude because he is forced to pay taxes for government services that oppress him. Id. at 3-4. Plaintiff also alleges an act of domestic terrorism2, id. at 3, and alleges that under Oregon Revised Statute (“O.R.S.”) § 199.410, a service agency for African Americans must be established. Id. at 4.

2 After Plaintiff’s allegations that Portland Police violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights, Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint indicates that “[t]his is also a form of domestic terrorism.” It is unclear from Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint whether that phrase represents a claim STANDARDS I. Removal and Remand A federal district court has original jurisdiction over all civil actions “arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 1331. When a federal district court has original jurisdiction over a civil case, the court has supplemental jurisdiction over all

other claims that arise from the same case or controversy. 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a). If a district court has original jurisdiction over a civil case, the defendant may remove it from state court to the district court for the district and division that encompasses the place where the state court action is pending. 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a). A defendant must remove an action from a state court to a federal district court within thirty days of service or receipt by the defendant of a copy of the initial pleading setting out the plaintiff’s claims for relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1446. A plaintiff must file a motion to remand the case on any basis other than lack of subject matter jurisdiction within thirty days of filing of the notice of removal. 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c). A plaintiff can move to remand based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction any time before final judgment. Id.

II. Motion to Dismiss A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim may be granted only when there is no cognizable legal theory to support the claim or when the complaint lacks sufficient factual allegations to state a facially plausible claim for relief. Shroyer v. New Cingular Wireless Servs., Inc., 622 F.3d 1035, 1041 (9th Cir. 2010). In evaluating the sufficiency of a complaint’s factual

that the Portland Police committed an act of domestic terrorism or that the person who committed the hate crime against Plaintiff committed an act of domestic terrorism. Plaintiff’s response to Defendants’ motion to dismiss clarified that “The Portland Police, desk clerk[,] and employees, failing to act on the hate crime report as an emergency or immediate safety issue after the white nationalist attempted to attack me is by definition of the Patriot Act domestic terrorism.” Pl. Opp. Mot. Dismiss 5. allegations, the court must accept all material facts alleged in the complaint as true and construe them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Wilson v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 668 F.3d 1136, 1140 (9th Cir. 2012). However, the court need not accept conclusory allegations as truthful. Holden v. Hagopian, 978 F.2d 1115, 1121 (9th Cir. 1992).

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