Portland Police Chief Mike Marshman, elevated last year to replace a chief taken down in a scandal over an off-duty shooting of a friend, now faces his own investigation over an unspecified internal issue.

Mayor Ted Wheeler placed Marshman on paid administrative leave late Friday. Marshman's executive assistant, Lt. Michael Leasure, also was placed on leave.

The mayor's office offered no details of why the two are under investigation.

"It is the Mayor's hope that the investigation will be expedited and that this matter will be resolved quickly,'' the mayor's spokesman, Michael Cox, said in a statement. "Both Chief Marshman and Lieutenant Leasure have the right to due process and are assumed to be innocent of any wrongdoing while the investigation is underway.''

Marshman, 50, who is one month shy of his 26th-year anniversary with the bureau, said he received a call Friday afternoon from the mayor's chief of staff. Marshman had the day off, though he said he attended the mayor's State of the City address before the City Club.

"I was obviously not expecting this,'' Marshman said. He's under a gag order, he said, so couldn't talk directly about the investigation.

He said he recognizes that there's a process in place to investigate bureau members, whether it's the "newest recruit or the chief of police.''

"Though it's obviously uncomfortable, hopefully it will get done quickly,'' he said. "Internal integrity is truly very important to me.''

Constantin Severe, head of the city's Independent Police Review Division, said the head of police internal affairs told him Thursday afternoon about what Severe described as "an internal bureau matter" involving Marshman.

"Based on the information, we knew we had to do an investigation,'' Severe said.

The allegations don't involve a civilian, Severe said, but declined to comment further.

Leasure

Severe and the city auditor alerted Wheeler by the end of the day Thursday. The chief and his executive assistant were placed on leave about 5 p.m. Friday.

The sudden change comes at a tumultuous time for the bureau. Two other top administrators are on forced leave over lack of action in response to a staff member's harassment complaint. The bureau also has faced stiff criticism for how it has handled election protests and the fatal police shooting of a black teenager.

Marshman has led the bureau since late June, when former Mayor Charlie Hales named him to fill the job after the retirement of Larry O'Dea, who was under criminal investigation at the time for shooting a friend on a camping trip to eastern Oregon.

When he was sworn in, Marshman pledged to work to restore public trust in the police bureau. Shortly after, he released police reports over an abuse allegation in 2006 involving his stepson at the time. He was accused of grabbing the stepson around the neck, but said he pushed the teenager against a wall during a dispute. A family services detective investigated the complaint. No criminal charges were filed.

Leasure was the subject of an internal police investigation about a year and a half ago over allegations that he made disparaging and inappropriate remarks about women in the bureau's personnel division when he worked as a sergeant there. Bureau investigators sustained some of the complaints, but it's unclear if Leasure faced any discipline. Since then, he was promoted to lieutenant.

Statement by Chief Michael Marshman

"The day I was sworn in as Chief, I made a commitment to establishing internal legitimacy and restoring trust, both within our organization and with the community we serve. Part of that commitment is respecting the investigative processes we have in place to ensure accountability at all levels of the organization. These processes apply to me as much as they do to every member of the Bureau. Regardless of rank, everyone should be accountable and it starts with me.

"I look forward to the completion of this process and am committed to full transparency so that everyone has access to the facts.

"I'm very proud of the work Portland Police Bureau members do every day to keep our community safe and they continue to have my full support."

On Thursday, the Police Bureau put up Leasure's photo on its Facebook page, along with a picture of him from his college days when he played on the Gonzaga University basketball team that went to the 1999 NCAA tournament.

Assistant Chief Chris Davis, who was recently named to the chief's office after serving as Central Precinct commander, will serve as acting chief.

Wheeler has said he intends to conduct a national search for police chief. The mayor serves as the city's police commissioner.

On Tuesday, a grand jury found that the police shooting of 17-year-old Quanice Hayes, was justified. Hayes was a suspect in an armed robbery. His family has called for a federal investigation.

Police continue to struggle with how to respond to public protests that block city streets and mass transit, arresting more than 100 people since the November election of Donald Trump as president. Their use of tear gas, pepper spray, flash-bang and sting-ball grenades has come under steady fire.

Two other high-ranking members of the bureau, Kevin Modica and Derek Rodrigues, remain on paid leave after a Human Resources investigation. The case resulted from a complaint that the two didn't report a harassment allegation from a staff member against the bureau's equity manager.

Marshman's troubles also come as the city has failed to meet community engagement requirements as part of a federal settlement in a 2012 U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found police used excessive force on people with mental illness.

Portland police Officer Daryl Turner, who leads the police union called the Portland Police Association, said officers are disappointed and shocked by what he called an "unsettling chain of events.''

Turner issued this statement late Friday:

"Obviously, we are all shocked by the turn of events, with being notified that Chief Marshman was put on administrative leave. This does not affect the way we do our job as the rank and file of the Portland Police Bureau; we will continue to serve our communities with the same dedication, compassion, and equity as always.

In the coming days and weeks as the investigation unfolds and information comes out, our focus and service to our communities remains steadfast.

Although we are disappointed, we also understand that the process in place is equally applied from the Chief to the newest recruit. We trust that we will see results and can move past this in a timely manner.

As the leadership of the PPA, I stand strong behind our members as we navigate through this unsettling chain of events.

Stay safe and we are here for you when you need us.''

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian