Portland, Oregon pays $ 100,000 to Man in Tussle with Police Over Sign during 2020 protest

Portland, Oregon, will pay a $ 100,000 settlement to Dmitri Stoyanoff who had an argument with police over a sign he held in hand during a September 2020 protest.

The city council unanimously approved the money to Stoyanoff, 40, of Vancouver, Washington, who sued the police, saying he was on the 28th protest in Kenton Park in Portland in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, according to The Oregonian / OregonLive.

The sign Stoyanoff was holding was on a lightweight three-quarter-inch PVC pipe and, according to his lawsuit, was made of cardboard and paper, The Oregonian / OregonLive reported.

Stoyanoff said the police tried “for no legal reason” to take his mark. When he tried to hold on to it, Stoyanoff said he was sprayed with pepper spray, thrown to the ground, kicked and handcuffed.

Stoyanoff has been charged with disturbing police, a charge that was dropped when he was first charged, court records show.

City lawyers argued that the police acted in accordance with the law in preventing a riot and that any harm done to Stoyanoff was due to “his own actions or inaction or otherwise due to his failure to mitigate the harm” Assistant City Attorney Mallory R. Beebe wrote in a court response, according to The Oregonian / OregonLive.

In a separate case, U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez ruled that at a protest rally on June 30, 2020, Portland Police breached their order to restrict the use of less lethal impact ammunition, which included a protester who refused , framed an “Abolish the Police” banner with PVC pipe. This incident resulted in the protester being shot five times by a less lethal FN303 launcher, The Oregonian / OregonLive reported.

The sign Dmitri Stoyanoff held during the September 2020 protest in Portland, Oregon was on a lightweight three-quarter-inch PVC pipe. In this photo, Portland Police seized a protester’s flag early in the morning on October 7, 2020 during a mass dispersal.
Nathan Howard / Getty Images

The settlement is the last in a series of payouts – at least $ 335,000 total this year – from police actions during protests in 2016.

“(Last year) revealed a lot to us about the systems we had to change as a council and as a community,” Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said during a city council meeting.

The city’s lawyers initially responded to the lawsuit, saying the officers were empowered to temporarily confiscate the rod from Stoyanoff’s shield, calling it a dangerous and deadly weapon. They argued that the police acted lawfully in responding to or trying to prevent civil disturbance or civil disturbance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

When Dmitri Stoyanoff tried to hold onto his shield, he was sprayed in the face and eyes, thrown to the ground, kicked and handcuffed. In this photo, protesters carry a banner as they march during the 100th day and night of the Protests Against Racism and Police Brutality in Portland, Oregon on September 5, 2020.
Allison Dinner / AFP via Getty Images