Teen in foster care alleges Bend police slammed her to pavement, dislocating shoulder

Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, March 15, 2023

A 17-year-old girl in state foster care alleges Bend Police officers unnecessarily slammed her into the pavement and dislocated her shoulder while detaining her in May 2022.

The May 30 incident occurred three days after the Oregon Department of Human Services reported publicly that the teen was missing from foster care and was believed to be in danger. It was the first of three such notifications from the state in May and June.

The teen filed a tort claim notice in February, indicating she plans to sue the city, according to a copy obtained by The Bulletin.

Although the teen’s name is listed in the public document, The Bulletin is not publishing it out of concern for her safety.

She states in the tort claim notice that three Bend Police officers approached her at the BottleDrop near the intersection of Second Street and Hawthorne Avenue at approximately 1:40 p.m.

She said the officers — patrol Lt. Adam Juhnke and patrol officers Ruben Jenkins and Thomas Charles — intended to return her to state custody. She said the officers detained her without warning while she tried to explain that she had a chronic injury from a previous encounter with police.

“That event was traumatic, and I genuinely fear cops due to terrible past experiences,” she said in the tort claim.

During the May 30 incident, one of the officers, as yet unnamed, allegedly swept the teen’s legs out from under her in an action that slammed her to the ground, crushing her hip into the curb and ramming her right shoulder into the pavement, according to the tort claim. While the officers rolled her onto her stomach, the teen said her right arm was pinned under her abdomen, causing her tendons and ligaments to tear and her shoulder to dislocate.

“I wasn’t resisting but screaming out in pain and fear, saying they were crushing my shoulder and hurting me, begging them to get off as their weight kept my shoulder and arm pinned underneath me,” she said in the tort claim.

Because her face was covered in tears and spit, the police put a spit guard on her, she said in the tort claim.

“I saw all the people watching and have never felt so humiliated and degraded in my life,” she said.

Sheila Miller, a spokeswoman for the Bend Police Department, said in an email to The Bulletin: “We are unable to comment on pending litigation.”

The Bulletin filed a public records request for police reports and body camera footage of the incident Tuesday. The department denied the request Wednesday, saying the records are exempt from public disclosure under Oregon law.

Miller said Bend Police staffers review all incidents that required officers to use force, “including takedowns.” The department “reviewed, among other things, body worn camera footage of this incident, and did not find any policy violations or misuse of force,” Miller said in an email.

“No disciplinary action was taken against any of these officers,” she said.

Juhnke has been employed by the department since 2003, Charles since 2016 and Jenkins since 2018. “All of these officers are actively employed by the Bend Police Department and serving in their normal roles,” Miller said.

After the May encounter with Bend Police, the state alerted the public that the teen was again missing twice, on June 9 and June 23. Both times she went missing from Sunriver. Both times she was believed to have been in danger, according to the alerts from the state.

Jake Sunderland, press secretary for the Oregon Department of Human Services, said the state is unable to comment on pending or active litigation.

According to the state’s child welfare manual, a media alert about a missing at-risk youth occurs under a number of circumstances, including:

• The child is under 12

• There are concerns of foul play or suicidal ideation

• The person has mental or behavioral disabilities or cognitive delays

• There are concerns of substance use

• There are signs of sexual exploitation or a history or suspicion of sex trafficking

• There is a risk of juvenile justice involvement

• The person has medical or medication needs.

The state issued 27 media alerts about missing at-risk youth in 2022, although some involved more than one alert for a single child, Sunderland said. Of 4,913 children in foster care across Oregon, 30 are missing, though not necessarily at risk.

Sunderland said he could not disclose why this teen was believed to be in danger. Generally, he noted, the state sends out an alert as a final action if it has exhausted all other options to find a missing youth. He said child privacy laws are strict, so disclosing a child’s identity and seeking the public’s help in finding them only happens if it’s in the child’s best interest or safety.

When trying to locate and return a missing at-risk youth, the state weighs whether or not it is best to send police or other officials like social workers, Sunderland noted. If the child is more likely to go with police, then the state might request law enforcement help. If the child might react poorly to law enforcement, a case worker might be preferred.

Micah R. LeBank is a Bend-based attorney who has worked on personal injury and civil rights cases in the Pacific Northwest, including those involving foster care youths and police officers. He acknowledged that there is almost certainly more to this incident than what is described in the tort claim. But after reviewing the claim, he said it raises concerns over the officers’ response, saying their force “seems unnecessary and excessive.”

“Three grown police officers shouldn’t have to dislocate a young woman’s shoulder in order to take her into custody,” he said. “It seems like she was known to them from a recent encounter and that they could have handled it differently.”

LeBank noted that it did not appear that the teen was committing any crime, and argued that the officers should have been able to use their words and skills to deescalate the situation. He questioned whether it would have been better to send in a case worker and said he would want to review additional records and videos to learn more.

“If a family member went out to get their kid, would they grab them by the arm and tear their rotator cuff?” he said. “No. A parent wouldn’t treat their child that way. The fact that this is allowed to occur is only because they’re police officers. If somebody else did this, it would be an assault.”

Editor’s note: This article has been corrected. The original version misstated the role of a case worker who signed this teen’s tort claim. The employee signed the claim for purposes of specifying a relevant address. The Bulletin regrets the error.