By Cassandra Fairbanks
The entire Portland Police protest response unit has quit the team in protest of one of it’s officers being indicted.
There were approximately 50 officers on the voluntary Rapid Response Team, all of whom resigned on June 16.
“Its members were sworn employees of the Portland Police who served on RRT in addition to their daily assignment in the Bureau. Despite no longer serving on RRT, they will continue in their regular assignments,” the department said in a statement.
The day before the resignations, it was announced that Portland police officer Corey Budworth, who served on the team, was indicted by a grand jury over an alleged assault on a woman named Teri Jacobs that took place during the George Floyd riots last summer.
The Portland Police Association has defended the officer, calling his indictment “politically driven.”
“Officer Corey Budworth is a committed public servant of the highest integrity. He has spent four of his six years as a PPB officer as a highly trained member of PPB’s Rapid Response Team (RRT). In his service with RRT and his deployment at hundreds of protests and demonstrations, Officer Budworth has never faced any sustained force complaints,” the PPA said in a statement posted to Facebook.
The statement from the Portland Police Department explains that officers who were part of the team were trained in “advanced skills related to crowd management and crowd control including crowd psychology and behavior, team formations and movements, the use of enhanced personal protective equipment, use of force, de-escalation and arrests.”
On the night of August 18, 2020 approximately 200 rioters were engaging in a violent protest outside the Multnomah Building. Multiple buildings were set on fire that evening.
“As the event escalated it was declared a riot; community members and police officers were at risk of serious injury and someone from the crowd launched a Molotov cocktail into the Multnomah Building, setting it ablaze,” the PPA statement explained. “After nearly 75 consecutive nights of violence, destruction, and mayhem, a small group of RRT officers—including Officer Budworth—were again tasked with dealing with the riot. Per PPB Command Staff orders, RRT officers cleared the rioters from the area to allow the Fire Bureau to extinguish the blaze.”
The statement continued on to say that “the rioters were not satisfied,” and began to march back to the Multnomah Building where a confrontation ensued between them and the officers. As they worked to clear the crowd, Officer Budworth was “forcefully knocked to the ground.” The PPA says that at this point, the rioters became more aggressive.
As officers attempted to arrest someone in the crowd, other rioters interfered — creating a hectic and chaotic scene for everyone involved.
“RRT officers, including Officer Budworth, used their Police Bureau-issued batons to try and stop the crowd’s criminal activity. Per his training and in response to the active aggression of a rioter interfering with a lawful arrest, Officer Budworth used baton pushes to move a rioter, now known to be Teri Jacobs, out of the area. As Officer Budworth cleared Ms. Jacobs from the area to stop her criminal activity, Ms. Jacobs fell to the ground. Reasonably believing that she was getting back up to re-engage in her unlawful activities, Officer Budworth employed one last baton push to try and keep her on the ground, which accidentally struck Ms. Jacobs in the head. The location of Officer Budworth’s last baton push was accidental, not criminal. He faced a violent and chaotic, rapidly evolving situation, and he used the lowest level of baton force—a push; not a strike or a jab—to remove Ms. Jacobs from the area.”
The incident was caught on camera.
Mayor Ted Wheeler has issued a statement acknowledging the the toll that working the riots has had on officers, but did not address the indictment.
“I want to acknowledge the toll this past year has taken on them and their families — they have worked long hours under difficult conditions,” Wheeler said. “I personally heard from some of them today, and I appreciate their willingness to share their concerns about managing the many public gatherings that often were violent and destructive.”
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