In September 2014, a Portland Police officer deployed a Taser on a Portland bicyclist six times within 15 seconds in a use of force that drew years of scrutiny and conflicting opinions on whether Officer Bradley Nutting's actions were appropriate.

The Portland City Council remained conflicted Wednesday and, on a 3-2 vote, overturned the Police Bureau's decision to exonerate Nutting for deploying a stun gun on Portlander Matthew Klug.

The council did not suggest Nutting receive any discipline, however.

Mayor Ted Wheeler, who doubles as police commissioner, and Commissioner Dan Saltzman wanted to sustain Police Chief Mike Marshman's decision to clear the officer, but were outvoted.

Nutting hit Klug with a stun gun six times for resisting arrest after he yelled at a driver he said struck his bike. At least two of the hits occurred as Klug lay face down on the ground with three officers over his back.

The chief concluded Klug struggled with officers in a threatening manner that justified Nutting's use of force.

The Tasing on a Northwest Portland street came after a 2012 federal investigation found a pattern of Portland police using excessive force against people who had or were perceived to have mental illness. Investigators also found that police improperly deployed stun guns against suspects.

Several witnesses to the 2014 incident told investigators it was clear to them that Klug was undergoing a mental health crisis. Reports from advocacy groups say that Klug had experienced a traumatic brain injury.

The council's decision came after a years' long process in which a citizen review panel and the bureau tried and failed to come to an agreement on the findings.

In the end, the Citizen Review Committee unanimously determined that the officer's use of force was inappropriate.

The appeal of the Police Bureau decision was the first brought before the council in more than a decade, city commissioners and attorneys said.

Commissioners struggled to agree on whether to uphold Marshman's decision that Klug had acted aggressively toward several officers trying to handcuff him and that repeated Taser strikes were in line with department policy.

"I'm listening to different accounts of the same incident and I don't draw any conclusions, so I'm going to err on the side of exoneration," Saltzman said.

Commissioners Nick Fish, Amanda Fritz and Chloe Eudaly voted to not sustain the chief's decision.

Wheeler and the commissioners agreed that the task before them--determining whether a reasonable person would come to the same conclusion as Marshman after reviewing evidence of the case--was extremely difficult.

They all noted differing accounts from officers, witnesses and Klug, confusing evidence and unclear standards for reviewing use of a Taser.

"While I support all of the broader principles discussed here today... when it comes back to this case and the standards by which I'm supposed to judge it, I have to answer that question in the affirmative," Wheeler said.

A 15-second video of the incident shot at a distance by a bystander shows three Portland police officers pushing Klug toward a wall and then onto the ground as someone yells: "You are a f---cking idiot." Face-down, Klug yells "ow" multiple times as the three officers pull his arm behind his back and try to secure his kicking feet. A Taser light flashes, and Klug kicks Nutting to the ground. Nutting straddles Klug and appears to use the stun gun on him again.

Police in Portland, Ore., use a Taser on Matthew Klug, who has a diagnosed mental illness and epilepsy, on Sept. 17, 2014 from StreetRootsNews on Vimeo.

The Taser's internal system registered six deployments.

Marshman said Nutting only intended to deploy the stun gun three times, but the design of the device, which the police force had recently begun to use, likely resulted in accidental triggering.

He argued that Klug bucking on the ground and kicking the officer was "active aggression," a vaguely defined term in the department's Taser use policy that Marshman argued warranted Nutting's use of force. Marshman also argued it was unlikely all six Taser activations happened while the device was touching Klug.

"They did not have control of him," Marshman told the council during public testimony Wednesday. "I would rather have the officers use the Taser with no residual effect. If they punched him or used a metal stick, my question would have been 'Why didn't you use the Taser?'"

The Citizen Review Committee, made up of 11 volunteer community members, unanimously disagreed with Marshman's assessment that the actions were appropriate. The commission concluded Klug was resisting police commands but not exhibiting active aggression.

"Even if it was an accident, it was a use of force on a civilian," committee chairwoman Kristin Malone said. "That should come with a consequence."

Malone said she understood the police bureau's inclination to empathize with Nutting. She said the City Council likely feared overstepping in a decision that was supposed to defer to and respect the police chief's conclusions.

The brevity and speed of the incident, the grainy and distant video picture and unclear definitions of what constitutes "active aggression" conflicted all of the City Council's members in their decision.

"There are too many unique circumstances in this case that trouble me," Fish said. "I am very torn by the evidence before us. I am troubled by the documentation of six different tasers. I am concerned about the mental state of the suspect, who appeared to be in crisis."

While the council agreed on the decision's difficulty, it failed to agree on if or how the Police Bureau should move forward on disciplining Nutting.

"A not sustained is better than letting the chief's decisions stand without conversation," Fritz said.

--Jessica Floum

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