50 Police Officers In Portland Resign After Officer Indicted Over Assault Of Protestor Photo: A protestor reacts towards a Portland police officer during protests, Sept. 26, 2020, in Portland. The protests which began since the police killing of George Floyd in late May often result frequent clashes between protesters and law enforcement. (AP Photo/John Locher)
The entire Portland Police Bureau Rapid Response Team of 50 officers, which is mainly responsible for crowd control, resigned en masse on June 17 from their voluntary assignment but will remain on the force and continue their regular assignments, the bureau announced.
The team resignation happened a day after a fellow officer was indicted on an assault charge stemming from alleged illegal use of force during a protest in 2020.
A grand jury indicted Portland Police Bureau Officer Corey Budworth on one count of fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor, for what prosecutors allege was an “excessive and unlawful use of force” during a protest on Aug. 18, 2020, ABC News reported.
The protests were sparked by the May 25, 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Budworth, then a bureau Rapid Response Team member, is accused of hitting a woman in the head with a baton. The indictment is the first time a Portland police officer has faced prosecution for striking or firing at someone during a protest, according to The Oregonian.
Following the indictment, the Portland Police Association said in a statement that Budworth was “caught in the crossfire of agenda-driven city leaders and a politicized criminal justice system.”
The union claimed Budworth accidentally struck Teri Jacobs while trying to break up a riot. The union also claimed Jacobs was interfering with an arrest.
Jacobs, in turn, filed a civil lawsuit against the city over her alleged physical and emotional injuries from the incident, which was settled earlier this year for $50,000, according to ABC Portland affiliate KATU.
The Rapid Response Team resignations come at a time when law enforcement has heightened its investigations of violence towards Black activists.
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North Carolina lawyer T Greg Doucette and mathematician Jason Miller found that the violence at protests that fell within FBI jurisdiction came not from Black Lives Matter activists or Antifa, but from police. The two compiled more than 500 incidents of police violence against protesters in the month after Floyd’s murder that were captured on video by activists and journalists. Data showed more violence from police than protesters, but the police committing the violence went unpunished.
“This isn’t surprising, as the justice department rarely brings civil rights charges against police officers for acts of brutality,” according to law and public policy institute Brennan Center For Justice.
