Don't Shoot PDX, others suing Portland to end use of tear gas

PORTLAND, Ore. — After of a week of protests in Portland, where police have used tear gas to control crowds, Don’t Shoot PDX and other groups are suing the city of Portland, demanding its officers stop using the gas.

In the class-action lawsuit, the groups allege that police are indiscriminately using tear gas against demonstrators protesting police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

“We’re out screaming for justice for Black people and asking the state to stop its violence against us, and the City responds by using tear gas when we’re in the middle of a pandemic of respiratory disease,” said Teressa Raiford of Don’t Shoot Portland in a news release. “This just demonstrates that they don’t care about the harm they’re causing, and that they are willing to literally kill us for standing up. For weeks we’ve been told to protect against the coronavirus, and we have shut down the country to achieve that. Now suddenly the City doesn’t care about the risks of COVID-19 when we are fighting for our lives.”

The plaintiffs say police have used tear gas against them and crowds of people who haven't committed crimes but who are exercising their First Amendment rights to speech and assembly.

The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to immediately stop the use of the gas and also seeks to ban it permanently.

On Thursday, police said if officers stop using tear gas, more dangerous methods might be needed to control crowds. Portland police use a type of tear gas called CS gas.

"As far as a ban on CS gas, what that would do for us is put us in the position of having to figure out a different way to accomplish that objective [dispersing crowds]," said Deputy Chief Chris Davis.

He said there are policies in place and it requires a "fairly significant level of violence from the crowd," before the gas is used.

Davis described CS gas as a fine powder. He said CS gas wears off quickly when people walk out of it, whereas pepper spray takes 90 minutes to wear off.

In an interview with KATU Friday evening, City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said she is working on a middle ground, but she said she couldn’t divulge the details of that plan as discussions with her colleagues continue.

“There should be no reason, ever, for Portland police officers to surround protesters who are exercising their free speech right and then spray them when they’ve done nothing wrong,” she said, adding she wants to hold the officers who did so accountable.

During a Friday news conference, Mayor Ted Wheeler said he’s considering banning the use of any gas against protesters but not until a safer alternative can be found.

Also on Friday, the mayor of Seattle announced a temporary ban on the use of tear gas on demonstrators.