Brock Ameele was patrolling the streets as a Bend Police officer one night in April 2022 when he heard that a man stepped out of a car and walked away during another officer’s traffic stop.

Ameele parked his patrol car near Doanna Way and Sally Lane and found the man, records show. At the time, he had no lawful reason to detain him. Still, Ameele followed, shining his flashlight. He was concerned about how the man put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, shielded his body and pointed a “finger gun” as a fellow officer pulled up in his car.

“Those are not, in and of itself, necessarily anything,” Ameele said Tuesday in an interview with The Bulletin. “But combined and over a short period of time, they could be a concerning thing for someone in my position and indicative of someone possessing a weapon.”

Repeatedly, Ameele told the man to stop.

When he didn’t, Ameele tackled him. His reason? The man had walked in the road, a minor traffic violation.

Ameele never told the man he was being arrested for a crime as he was handcuffed and walked to a patrol car, records show. In May 2022, the Bend Police Department opened an internal affairs investigation into the incident. The department fired Ameele after finding he violated 10 parts of department policy, including the “unreasonable use of force.”

Last week, a state law enforcement committee sustained the investigation’s findings that Ameele tackled and arrested the man without probable cause, failed to report his use of force that night and was dishonest with his supervisors. The Oregon Board of Public Safety Standards and Training — which holds police officers accountable for bad behavior — will decide during a January meeting whether to suspend his license for three years.

State agency reviews case

Ameele’s case is laid out in a memo from the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, which was published on the state’s website on Thursday.

It states that five days after police notified Ameele about the internal investigation, he deleted 963 “items” — including photos and messages — from his work phone, where police sometimes keep evidence. Investigators called the deletion “unusually large” and pressed him on the matter in an interview two days later.

“But you did, you got rid of text messages, between you?” an unnamed investigator asked.

“Right, things that I, I didn’t think were, were relevant a lot,” Ameele said.

“Did you intentionally destroy evidence related to this internal investigation?” the investigator asked.

“No,” said Ameele.

Ameele believes his actions during the arrest were justified and that he had a lawful reason to stop the man, who he feared was armed, he said in an interview Tuesday. He noted that police found a knife and methamphetamine on him that night and, afterward, he learned there was a warrant out for the man’s arrest.

“I was responding to the behavior that I was observing,” he said.

Though he acknowledged to investigators that he destroyed work from his phone without permission, Ameele told The Bulletin he deleted the files to make room on his phone and because he wanted to fill his idle time and be productive while he was on leave amid the investigation. He said he couldn’t remember if he deleted photos or messages about the April 9 incident.

“The timing obviously did not look good for me, but the intent had nothing to do with concealing any evidence related to this case,” he said.

Plans to sue

In April, Ameele filed a tort claim notice alerting the city he intended to sue. In it he alleges he was wrongfully terminated, according to a copy obtained by The Bulletin. He states that his termination was part of a pattern of “excessive” disciplinary action taken by Bend Police.

“There was unequal treatment or application of rules specifically targeting (Ameele) and not others,” said Kirsten Curtis, Ameele’s attorney, who declined to provide specifics, citing pending litigation.

Ameele’s isn’t the only ongoing case involving a Bend Police officer accused of excessive force.

In May 2022, a 17-year-old girl went missing from state foster care. When three Bend Police officers found her, they slammed her into the pavement, dislocated her shoulder while detaining her and then put a spit guard on her face as she cried, she said in a February tort claim notice. She has not yet filed a lawsuit.

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

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

In May, a man sued a Bend Police officer and the city after the officer allegedly slammed his head into the ground during an arrest on June 6, 2021. The officer, who was placed on leave, is facing misdemeanor assault charges and has pleaded not guilty.

New lawsuit filed in Bend police brutality case; officer’s criminal case approaches settlement

New lawsuit filed in Bend police brutality case; officer’s criminal case approaches settlement

Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said he was not available for an interview Tuesday and that he couldn’t comment on pending litigation or personnel action. But he sent an email with a statement saying his officers are trained to prioritize de-escalation. Force is “only used when necessary, is used judiciously, and is always in service to maintain public safety,” he said.

Bend Police review each use of force incident and try to learn from them and improve, Krantz said. They use force on an “extremely rare” basis — 70 times out of 76,427 calls for service in 2022, he said.

Sixteen of those incidents ended with officers being injured, according to the department’s annual report. Forty-one ended with suspects being injured.

“Police officers are rightly held to high standards of integrity and honesty,” Krantz said. “When an officer fails to live up to those expectations, the Bend Police Department holds them accountable, and that’s what happened in Mr. Ameele’s case.”

Finger gun missing from report

Ameele, who owns the Bend-based clothing company Freedom Flannel Co., has worked in law enforcement since 2010. He previously served with the Corvallis Police Department. He called his record as a police officer “outstanding” and noted he has won awards.

But of the April incident, Ameele acknowledged “procedurally there were some things that in hindsight I would have done differently or changed as far as the stop itself.”

Ameele insists he saw the man hold up a finger gun, but he didn’t write that in his police report, the memo states. Sgt. Thomas Russell, who reviewed Ameele’s body-camera footage, said he “did not see a finger gun movement.”

Ameele told the man he was being arrested on suspicion of improper position upon a highway, a Class D traffic violation, the memo states. When his supervisor, Sgt. Rob Emerson, arrived on the scene, Ameele told Emerson, “He would arrest the passenger for interfering with a peace officer,” a misdemeanor. Emerson said there was no cause for this.

Still, Ameele recommended the misdemeanor charge to the district attorney’s office. It declined to prosecute.

Following a hearing in December 2022, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel reviewed Ameele’s case and placed him on a “Tier 2 Brady list,” which requires prosecutors to disclose when police officers have a history of being untruthful.

The board’s meeting to decide on Ameele’s license is scheduled for Jan. 25.