PORTLAND — A federal judge who found the city of Portland in contempt of his restrictions on police use of less-lethal impact munitions during protests said he wants to issue “practical remedies as opposed to punitive” ones to help the city avoid repeating the violations.
U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez has set a hearing for Jan. 8 to hear arguments before determining what those remedies will be, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
Hernandez said he wants to make sure police avoid using munitions against people who aren’t being actively aggressive toward them.
On June 26, the judge prohibited police from using less-lethal launchers and pepper spray on people engaged in passive resistance.
The judge’s order came in response to a suit filed by Don’t Shoot Portland, a Black-led nonprofit that advocates for social and racial justice in the city, amid nightly demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
The nonprofit had argued that police violated the court order when officers fired foam-tipped impact rounds, launched smoke grenades and bull-rushed demonstrators with batons and fired tear gas on June 30.
Hernandez found that Portland police violated his restrictions three times as officers declared an unlawful assembly and tried to push protesters to the east after they marched to the police union building.
