Portland Police Ass'n v. City of Portland

365 P.3d 1123, 275 Or. App. 700, 205 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3186, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1599
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 30, 2015
DocketUP02312; A152657
StatusPublished

This text of 365 P.3d 1123 (Portland Police Ass'n v. City of Portland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Portland Police Ass'n v. City of Portland, 365 P.3d 1123, 275 Or. App. 700, 205 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3186, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1599 (Or. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

ARMSTRONG, P. J.

This case arose out of the 2010 shooting death of Aaron Campbell by Portland Police Officer Ronald Frashour. After an investigation, the City of Portland discharged Frashour from his employment for violating the Portland Police Bureau’s use-of-force policies in the shooting. The Portland Police Association filed a grievance on Frashour’s behalf that challenged the discharge, and the grievance proceeded to arbitration. The arbitrator determined that the city lacked just cause to terminate Frashour and ordered the city to reinstate him. After the city refused to implement the arbitrator’s decision, the association filed a complaint with the Employment Relations Board, contending that the city’s refusal to implement the award violated the parties’ collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which treats arbitration awards as final and binding. The board upheld the complaint and ordered the city to reinstate Frashour. The city seeks judicial review of the board’s final order, contending that the board erred because the arbitrator’s award is unenforceable under ORS 243.706(1), which provides, in part:

“As a condition of enforceability, any arbitration award that orders the reinstatement of a public employee or otherwise relieves the public employee for misconduct shall comply with public policy requirements as clearly defined in statutes or judicial decisions including but not limited to policies respecting * * * unjustified and egregious use of physical or deadly force * * * related to work.”

For the reasons explained below, we affirm.

Because the issue on review reduces to a legal question — viz., the proper construction of ORS 243.706(1)—that we review for legal error, ORS 183.482(8)(a), we set out only those facts — taken from the arbitrator’s opinion and the board’s order — that are needed to give context to the legal dispute.1 Unless otherwise noted, those facts are undisputed.

On January 29,2010, while on duty, Officer Frashour shot and killed Aaron Campbell, who was unarmed. The [702]*702incident began as a welfare check — police had received a call that Campbell, who possessed a gun and was distraught over the recent death of his brother, might be in a certain apartment, might be suicidal, and might be threatening to commit “suicide by police.” The situation escalated after Campbell unexpectedly came out of the apartment and did not respond to repeated police instructions to put his hands in the air (he had his hands on top of his head). An officer fired a bean-bag round that hit Campbell, who stumbled and began to run away. The officer fired five more bean-bag rounds at Campbell, who continued running. (There was disputed testimony regarding what Campbell did with his hands while running. According to the board’s summary of the arbitrator’s findings, Frashour testified that he saw Campbell “bring his left hand down behind his back and turn about 45 degrees toward” a car and that, “[b]y the time [he] finished turning, * * * Campbell’s hand was completely in his pants beneath his waistband.” Other witnesses testified that Campbell appeared to be reaching toward the place on his body where he had been shot with the first bean-bag round.) Approximately three seconds after Campbell began running, Frashour fired his rifle, fatally shooting Campbell.

Following an investigation of the incident and various reviews,2 Portland Chief of Police Michael Reese terminated Frashour’s employment with the city, concluding that Frashour had violated the Portland Police Bureau’s policies on use of force, specifically City Policies 1010.10 (Deadly Physical Force) and 1010.20 (Physical Force).3 The association [703]*703filed a grievance challenging Frashour’s discharge, and the [704]*704grievance was submitted to an arbitrator, as provided by the CBA. The parties stipulated that the issues before the arbitrator were whether the city had just cause to discharge Frashour,4 and, if not, the appropriate remedy.

After 16 days of hearing, during which the arbitrator heard from 31 witnesses and received approximately 115 exhibits, the arbitrator issued a lengthy opinion and award, in which she concluded that the city lacked just cause to terminate Frashour. The arbitrator reasoned, in part, as follows:

“This was a very tragic case, one where the Monday-morning quarterback has the clear advantage when divining what went wrong. The case law regarding the Constitutional use of deadly force has been particularly instructive. Although it turned out that Mr. Campbell did not have a gun with him in the parking lot, [Graham v. Connor, 490 US 386, 109 S Ct 1865, 104 L Ed 2d 443 (1989),] and its progeny consistently emphasize that ‘20-20 hindsight’ must be avoided. Further, as the recitation of cases showed, those adjudicators have had little difficulty concluding that if a subject appears to be reaching for what could reasonably be considered a gun, deadly force is justified, even though no weapon has been observed. The courts have not said that every reaching motion justifies lethal force, but where the circumstances indicate that the subject could be armed and has indicated possible intent to use the weapon, then deadly force will survive the Constitutional test. The Portland Police Bureau directives on lethal force essentially mirror the Constitutional standard articulated by the courts. The courts are not willing to require law [705]*705enforcement officers to take risks to themselves or to the safety of others. Further, as the courts have instructed, the determination of reasonableness must make allowances for the split-second decision making that is required of police officers. Although the events here unfolded over a period of time, the critical period was during the few seconds between the time Officer Lewton shot the initial beanbag rounds and the time that Mr. Campbell neared the Volvo. The situation with Mr. Campbell changed very rapidly, forcing [Frashour] to make a quick decision.
“In the instant case, although Mr. Campbell had not committed a crime and displayed some behavior showing surrender and compliance (although this behavior was inconsistent), the Arbitrator concludes that it was reasonable to believe that he could be armed, and that when he ran, there was sufficient evidence for a finding that Mr. Campbell made motions that appeared to look like he was reaching for a gun. The Arbitrator also finds that the reasonable police officer could conclude that had Mr. Campbell pulled a gun, he would have fired it - possibly at others, or perhaps at himself. The case law points to the conclusion that this is a sufficient basis for finding that there was an objectively reasonable basis for believing that Mr. Campbell posed an immediate risk of serious injury or death to others.
“Accordingly, the Arbitrator concludes that the City has not sustained its burden of proving that [Frashour’s] use of force violated Portland Police Bureau directives 1010.10 and 1010.20. It lacked just cause to terminate [Frashour], and the grievance is sustained.”

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Bluebook (online)
365 P.3d 1123, 275 Or. App. 700, 205 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3186, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1599, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/portland-police-assn-v-city-of-portland-orctapp-2015.