The Portland City Council approved a $55,000 settlement with a woman who said she was injured by Portland police officers while protesting peacefully during a June 5, 2020, protest against police brutality and racism.
Portland police allegedly shot Dominique Bouchard in the leg with a rubber bullet and shoved her to the ground, breaking her wrist, Bouchard’s lawsuit stated.
Bouchard required surgery to have a metal plate and screws inserted into her wrist. Her medical bills totaled around $31,000.
Through her attorney Jason Kafoury, Bouchard sought $550,000 from the city.
Deputy city attorney Caroline Turco said the $55,000 settlement negotiated by both sides would cover Bouchard’s medical bills.
“My client had her arm broken by being thrown to the ground for no reason as a peaceful protester,” Kafoury said. “Sadly, she is one of many people the police hurt during the Black Lives Matter protest movement. And she’ll have pain in her arm for the rest of her life as a result.”
Bouchard’s incident was one of a dozen use-of-force cases against Portland cops from summer 2020 protests that Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt dropped in September 2021.
“There were no photographs or videos of Miss Bouchard’s incident, but other videos of the evening showed a violent protest, during which PPB used the types of force that Miss Bouchard experienced,” Turco told the city council on March 8.
Kafoury said use-of-force cases stemming from the 2020 protests were complicated by the fact that beyond the Portland Police Bureau, outside law enforcement agencies were also present.
The settlement raises the amount the city has paid out for protests from 2018 to 2020 to at least $1.14 million, according to Marc Poris with the group Portland Copwatch.
Kafoury said his firm had several more cases related to police conduct during the 2020 protests.
In the initial lawsuit, which was filed less than two weeks after Bouchard was injured, Bouchard claimed she was following police instructions to leave the area when she was shot with a rubber bullet in the back of the thigh. Sometime around midnight on June 5 or 6, 2020, Bouchard was leaving the area on Southwest Main Street near the Justice Center after Portland Police declared an unlawful assembly and told people to leave, the lawsuit stated.
After being hit, “with assistance from another person and with considerable difficulty, (Bouchard) continued heading westbound as the police continued to advance on protesters, wielding batons and firing flashbang grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas,” the lawsuit stated.
A block later, a Portland police officer allegedly “attacked her and slammed her to the pavement, using the full force and weight of his body, and causing her to suffer further injury, including a displaced fracture of the right wrist, which required surgery for internal fixation with metal surgical hardware.”
The officer did not attempt to arrest or detain Bouchard after forcing her to the ground, the lawsuit stated.
Bouchard was also exposed to tear gas during the protest, and later attended counseling for psychological injuries, Turco said.
Portland city councilors unanimously approved the settlement on March 8.
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Anna Del Savio is a reporter based in Portland, Ore.
