The Portland City Council unanimously voted on Thursday to approve a $3.75 million settlement with the family of Immanueal Clark, an unarmed man who was fatally shot by Officer Christopher Sathoff in 2022.
Clark’s tragic death has prompted pointed questions directed at Police Chief Bob Day from several council members regarding the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
Council members scrutinized Day’s support for a decision by top Police Bureau officials that contradicted internal investigators’ findings, which indicated that Sathoff had violated police policy.
Additionally, questions arose about why medical assistance took over 20 minutes to reach Clark after he was shot.
During the City Council meeting, Day referred to the incident as a tragedy. He reiterated his reliance on a conclusion reached by Sathoff’s commander and senior officials within the Police Bureau, who asserted that Sathoff believed Clark to be armed and potentially dangerous.
“This should anger us,” Day stated, expressing his own frustration and sorrow over the death of Clark, who was 30 years old.
He emphasized the importance of approaching such incidents from an “objectively reasonable standard,” as mandated by the law.
The council’s passage of the settlement marked one of the largest payouts resulting from a police shooting in Portland’s history.
Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney expressed her condolences to Clark’s family, stating, “I want to say very clearly to Manny’s family, I am sorry that this happened. This should not have happened.”
The incident occurred in the early hours of November 19, 2022, when officers approached Clark’s vehicle in a church parking lot, mistakenly believing it had been involved in an armed robbery earlier that night at a nearby fast-food restaurant.
In justifying Sathoff’s actions, Chief Day noted the protocol under which officers must assess the situation based on the information available at that time, referencing the U.S. Supreme Court’s Graham standard concerning excess use of force.
This standard considers the severity of the suspected crime, whether an individual is resisting arrest, and whether they pose an immediate threat to officers or others.
Day explained that the officers were responding to a report of an armed robbery, leading them to act under the belief that Clark might be armed when he fled.
He mentioned that when officers attempted to stop Clark, some passengers exited the vehicle and ran away, further complicating the situation.
According to Day, other officers at the scene shared Sathoff’s belief that Clark was armed and dangerous, including Officer Israel Holsti, who was present during the shooting.
Day pointed out that a grand jury had previously cleared Sathoff of any criminal culpability and stated that the officer continues to work with the Police Bureau in a different capacity, though details were not disclosed.
The Police Review Board, which includes both police personnel and community members, also concluded that Sathoff’s actions fell within the department’s policies, with four of seven members in agreement.
However, some councilors expressed dissatisfaction with Day’s explanations.
Councilor Loretta Smith highlighted the internal investigator’s report which indicated that Sathoff did not comply with the deadly force policy, noting that the robbery victim had described all suspects as white men.
Smith pointed out that Clark, who was Black, did not match the description provided, emphasizing that, “the knowns were that the people they should have been looking for were white men, and Manny was not.”
Another issue that emerged was the delayed medical assistance for Clark, with reports indicating he received medical attention approximately 26 minutes after being shot.
Day justified the lag in medical response by explaining that officers had to prioritize controlling the scene and apprehending the car’s other occupants before attending to Clark.
Investigator Rovinelli’s report revealed that Sathoff failed to communicate to anyone besides Holsti that Clark had fallen after being shot, resulting in unnecessary delays in rendering aid.
Councilor Mitch Green characterized the use of force as “unreasonable,” pointing out that Sathoff was armed with a long rifle while Clark was fleeing, raising questions of proportionality in the response.
Green emphasized, “We cannot tolerate this anymore,” pointing out the need to reevaluate police training and protocols.
Councilor Angelita Morillo referred to the case as a “massive injustice,” while Councilor Candace Avalos expressed her concern that the shooting was deemed in policy.
Both Avalos and Councilor Jamie Dunphy questioned why Sathoff was not dismissed from the Police Bureau altogether.
Acknowledging the tragedy, many councilors extended apologies to Clark’s family, and Pirtle-Guiney called for a thorough examination of practices to prevent similar incidents from recurrently occurring in the future.
In a separate matter during the council meeting, members also voted to pay $62,500 to Hannah Ahern, who had filed a lawsuit against Detective Erik Kammerer and other officers for her alleged false arrest during a protest in August 2019.
This settlement comes amidst ongoing debates about police conduct and accountability in the city as the council aims to seek solutions to prevent similar tragedies from happening again.
image source from：oregonlive
