Potter fires cop, citing 10 mistakes

From The Oregonian

Mayor Tom Potter, a retired cop who knows what it's like to make split-second life-or-death decisions, fired a Portland Police lieutenant Thursday for a series of questionable choices that led to the Jan. 4, 2006, shooting of a suspicious driver --not necessarily for the shooting itself.

Potter demanded Lt. Jeffrey Kaer's badge despite the advice of Chief Rosie Sizer and the 17-year veteran's own emotional plea for his job during a July 30 meeting with the mayor.

At that sit-down, the officer known to colleagues as "Kaer Bear" reminded the mayor that he has spent his career winning commendations and doing exactly the kind of neighborhood-based police work Potter loves. A union lawyer also reminded the mayor that there's a good chance a state arbitrator will give Kaer his job back.

But in a sternly worded termination letter, Potter listed 10 separate points at which he believes Kaer either violated Police Bureau policy or policing common sense. They all came before Kaer fired his 9mm Glock pistol.

"Make no mistake, every police officer has the right and the duty to protect themselves and the community," Potter said. "But no officer should put themselves in that position by repeatedly ignoring bureau policy and exercising poor judgment."

Kaer, 45, joined the Portland Police Bureau in April 1990. In that private meeting with the mayor, he described how two incidents from his North Portland childhood inspired him to become a police officer.

When he was 6, a drunk pounded on his family's front door. His mother, a slight woman home alone with four kids, called police but was told there were no officers available to help. The man eventually wandered away.

Several years later, Kaer's younger brother was the victim of what he described only as "a heinous crime." Police officers arrested the man responsible and forced him out of their neighborhood.

"I knew what it was like not to have police come when you needed help. I knew what it was like when you needed help and they were there," he told Potter, according to a transcript of what's known as a "due process" meeting. "I made my decision then and there that I wanted to be a Portland police officer. I wanted to be there when somebody needed help."

Before the shooting, Kaer was a model officer, according to police records. He was promoted to sergeant in 1998, and to lieutenant in 2003. At various times, he worked in North, Central, Northeast, East and Southeast precincts.

He was the night shift commander in Southeast Precinct on Jan. 4, 2006, when he received a 2:15 a.m. call from his sister. Brenda Kotsovos had noticed a strange car parked at a 45-degree angle in front of her home on Northeast 64th Avenue, south of Alameda Street.

Two months earlier, her son was shot in the face during a road rage incident. The suspect had been identified but not arrested. As a result, she was on the lookout for anything odd in the neighborhood, and emergency dispatchers had flagged her address so that several cars would respond to any 9-1-1 call.

Kotsovos later told investigators that she didn't see any reason for several officers to investigate what might be nothing. So she called her brother rather than 9-1-1, and he opted to check the car out himself, despite the fact his sister lived in East Precinct.

That, Potter says, was Kaer's first mistake.

Called for backup

When Kaer arrived at the scene, he radioed in with his location and asked for backup. But he did not ask dispatchers to run the license number of the oddly parked 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass, nor did he offer any details about what he found at the scene. Those were mistakes two and three. Had he run the license plate number, he would have discovered that the Cutlass was stolen.

Kaer approached the car before the second officer arrived, taking no extra care even though the engine was running and both the reverse and brake lights were on: mistakes four and five.

He assumed he was dealing with a drunken driver who had passed out --mistake six --even after he looked inside the car and saw that the driver, 28-year-old meth addict and convicted car thief Dennis Lamar Young, held a tire iron across his lap and there were tools frequently used by burglars in the seat next to him.

Kaer roused Young, who was slumped over and unconscious, and ordered him to put the car in park. When he didn't, Kaer shoved Young toward the passenger seat. He reached all the way inside the Cutlass to shift it into park himself, despite the fact that his backup officer hadn't arrived yet. Those were mistakes seven and eight.

When the second officer arrived, Kaer did not tell him what was going on --mistake nine --even as his confrontation with Young escalated. He ordered Young to turn the car off. When Young explained that he did not have the key, Kaer asked him if the Cutlass was stolen.

That, Potter says, was mistake number 10.

Instead of answering, Young suddenly reached down and put the Cutlass back into gear. The moving car hit Kaer's arm, causing him to do a 90-degree spin. It ran into a dogwood, and then reversed toward Kaer. He later told investigators that he side-stepped out of the way and, in the chaos of the moment, didn't even realize he had drawn his weapon.

"My gun was just there all of a sudden," he told the mayor. "There was no place to go. I didn't see an avenue of escape. And so I fired the two rounds because I wanted to stop him."

It was the first time he'd ever fired his pistol on duty.

One bullet blew out the driver's window. Another pierced the driver's side door. Young died from a bullet wound to the upper torso.

No criminal charges

A Multnomah County grand jury declined to press criminal charges. The Police Bureau's Use of Force Review Board ruled that the shooting was justified but that Kaer had committed several violations of bureau policy. It recommended suspending him for four weeks without pay. Police Chief Sizer seconded that suggestion.

Instead, Potter fired Kaer, who could not be reached for comment.

The decision drew grumbling from officers across the city. Kaer's union, the Portland Police Commanding Officers Association, has pledged to file a grievance.

There's a decent chance it'll succeed. City officials could not recall a single case of an officer being fired in the past 20 years who was not reinstated later by a state arbitrator.

Former Mayor Vera Katz suspended the officer who shot Kendra James during a 2003 traffic stop for almost six months without pay. An arbitrator later overturned the discipline, ruling that the bureau failed to conduct a full internal affairs investigation into the shooting. The city was ordered to pay the officer back wages and expunge the suspension.

"We are deeply, deeply disappointed in the decision and in the process," said Commander Mike Reese, speaking for the Commanding Officers union. "The person who is ultimately responsible for this being a deadly encounter was the suspect. He made the decisions that led to the loss of life. This is a tragedy, but Jeff Kaer acted in good faith."

Good faith or not, Kaer will be off the city payroll at 8 a.m. today. After that, the lawyers get involved.