James P. Chasse Jr.
James P. Chasse Jr., 42, had schizophrenia, and his friend Jason Renaud, who knew him from school, remembers him as an artistic person who wrote poetry, published a newsletter and made art. In September 2006, Portland police officers and a county deputy chased him in the Pearl District and tackled him to the ground after officers believed he had urinated in public. Paramedics cleared him for transport to jail, but the Multnomah County Jail refused to book him because of medical issues, and officers then drove him toward a hospital in a patrol car, where he died. An autopsy found blunt force trauma to the chest and 16 broken ribs and described the death as a homicide, and a grand jury cleared the officers, while the family's federal lawsuit alleged excessive force and a failure to treat him before the city settled for $1.6 million in 2010.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by staff (disputed; neglect alleged). The autopsy reported fatal blunt-force chest trauma and 16 broken ribs, and the family's federal wrongful death lawsuit alleges officers used excessive force and failed to get him medical care, which the city settled for $1.6 million in 2010 while a grand jury cleared the officers.
Reported by: autopsy; his family's federal wrongful death lawsuit (family or their lawyers); a grand jury.
Lawsuit: His family sued and the city settled for $1.6 million in 2010, and settlements with other parties brought the total to $3.1 million.