A woman who said she suffered third-degree chemical burns after being hit by a Portland police flash-bang grenade during a downtown protest last year is suing the law agency for $250,000.

Michelle Fawcett said Monday that she still has an imprint of the device in her left arm, continues to receive medical treatment after also being hit in the chest, experiences nightmares and fears sudden noises.

“I no longer feel safe in my community,” said Fawcett, 53, of Portland during a news conference. “I no longer feel safe in the presence of law enforcement. I no longer feel safe in crowds of people. No one should have to feel this way.”

[READ THE LAWSUIT]

Fawcett was one of at least three people injured while protesting an Aug. 4, 2018, demonstration by right-wing group Patriot Prayer. All of them said they were injured by Portland police weapons.

A flash-bang grenade, among items described by Portland police as riot control agents deployed during protests last year, is a nonlethal explosive projectile that emits a blast of noise and light meant to disorient anyone nearby.

The devices are meant to be fired overhead, but Fawcett said an officer fired one into the crowd, hitting her. Another protester said he was hit in the back of the head by a flash-bang grenade during the same protest, lodging into the helmet he was wearing.

Fawcett was among a crowd of more than 1,000 people protesting the rally by Patriot Prayer, whose Portland events have attracted white nationalists and others who promote racist or bigoted views. According to the lawsuit, the area where Fawcett was standing was calm and she never saw police fire the device because of the crowd.

Fawcett said she heard a deafening explosion and felt a burning sensation afterward. The crowd began to scatter, and in the suit she described being helped by medics at the scene and feeling like she was in “a war zone.”

Portland police two days after the protest announced they were suspending using the flash-bangs, referred to by the agency as aerial distraction devices, to determine if they were working properly. Police at the time said four people were arrested during the protest last year and that officers had rocks, firework mortars, smoke bombs and other items thrown at them.

Fawcett wasn’t one of the people arrested.

Fawcett and Jann Carson, American Civil Liberties Union interim executive director, said Monday that Portland police used excessive force during the demonstration and used the actions of a few people to justify firing “weapons and chemicals” at large groups that included innocent bystanders like Fawcett. The lawsuit was by the Tonkon Torp law firm on behalf of the ACLU of Oregon and Fawcett.

Carson said her agency’s legal observers have been among people in protest crowds who have been tear-gassed, shot with rubber balls and unlawfully detained during Portland demonstrations.

“Law enforcement must respond to isolated incidents of property damage, violence and other lawlessness by arresting individuals that are responsible, not breaking up a protest,” Carson said.

The city of Portland declined to comment on the lawsuit.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey

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