PORTLAND, Ore. — Four Portland city council hopefuls sent a letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler and the rest of city council this week, asking them to retract an argument that 17-year-old Quanice Hayes and his mother's negligence were to blame for his death in 2017.
Hayes was shot three times by Portland police officer Andrew Hearst, and a grand jury has ruled the officer was justified in the shooting.
Police said at the time, Hayes was a suspect in armed robberies, and was found by Hearst hiding in front of a Northeast Portland home.
When officers confronted him in Northeast Portland that day, they said he reached for his waistband. That's when Hearst shot him. Police said they found a replica gun near the teen's body.
About a year after his death, Hayes' family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and Hearst, claiming the officer used excessive force and the city failed to properly train the officers involved.
The case has reached US District Court in Portland. According to reports from the Portland Mercury, city attorneys are arguing Hayes and his mother were ultimately responsible for his death, because the teen carried a fake weapon and had committed crimes prior to the shooting.
Portland city council candidates Sam Adams, Carmen Rubio and Loretta Smith, along with mayoral candidate Sarah Iannarone, sent a letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler and commissioners Jo Ann Hardesty, Chloe Eudaly and Amanda Fritz this week, asking the city to withdraw the negligence argument.
"That argument is disgusting, oppressive, and polarizing – only serving the interest of creating deeper rifts between vulnerable communities and the city that is meant to serve them," the candidates wrote.
