Deschutes County district attorney dismisses charges in Bend Police brutality case

Published 11:17 am Wednesday, November 22, 2023

The Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office moved Wednesday to dismiss a criminal case against a Bend Police Department officer accused of assaulting a man during a June 2021 arrest.

District Attorney Steve Gunnels told The Bulletin that this was in part because a former Bend Police officer who reported officer Kevin Uballez’s conduct was later found to be untruthful in a separate case and was disqualified from testifying as a witness.

“That was a major factor in the decision,” Gunnels said in a phone interview Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors say they can’t prove the charges against Uballez, who was accused of misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and harassment for allegedly slamming Caleb Hamlin’s head into the ground during an arrest on June 6, 2021. Uballez had pleaded not guilty.

Two police officers, Peter Enna and Martin Tabaco, were praised by former District Attorney John Hummel for reporting Uballez to supervisors, prompting investigations into his use of force. Hummel said they broke the “blue wall of silence” and were the “embodiment of what it means to be a law enforcement officer.”

But while prosecutors said Enna would have been “an essential witness” in Uballez’s trial, he “misrepresented the circumstances” of an unrelated arrest and jail booking in July 2021, according to court records. The incident prompted Hummel to place Enna on the “Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office Brady List,” a list sometimes kept by prosecutors of officers who they consider too dishonest to call as witnesses in court, records show.

Gunnels said there were no major issues with Tabaco, who testified “he had concerns about the use of force and believed there should be a department review to determine compliance with policy,” prosecutors wrote in a memo obtained by The Bulletin.

But prosecutors added of Tabaco: “He did not conclude that what he saw was a crime.”

Force not captured by body camera

Prosecutors said that only one police officer was wearing a body camera at the time of the incident, but the camera did not capture the moment Uballez put Hamlin on the ground.

“Though today (body-worn cameras) are standard equipment for Bend Police Officers, at the time this (body-worn camera) was part of an experimental program,” court records say.

Bend Police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said Wednesday that Uballez remains on leave pending an internal investigation.

Steve Myers, Uballez’s attorney, declined to make his client available for an interview due to a pending civil lawsuit.

“Obviously, he’s happy that the case is being dismissed,” Myers said. “Frankly, the case shouldn’t have been charged to start with.”

In a statement, Jason Kafoury, Hamlin’s attorney, said his office was “deeply disappointed” by Gunnels’ decision.

“We honor the courage of the previous (District Attorney John Hummel), who brought these charges,” he said. “It is almost unheard of for a police officer to be charged for brutality against a civilian.”

He said that, despite Enna’s history, Tabaco’s testimony should be “adequate to bring a criminal defendant to trial.” In addition, he said that the charge of harassment could still be pursued because it does not require evidence of injury.

Hamlin’s lawsuit against Uballez alleges the officer falsely arrested him and violated his rights under the Fourth and 14th amendments, which forbid unlawful search and seizure and guarantee the right to due process and equal protection under the law.

Hamlin seeks $1.02 million in damages from Uballez and the city of Bend.

Enna lied, Hummel said

At the time Enna lied about a suspect he arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, the Deschutes County jail had a COVID-related policy for holding suspects whose identities were unknown, Hummel said. In a July 2022 letter, which The Bulletin obtained and reviewed, Hummel said Enna lied to corrections deputies when he said he didn’t know a person’s identity when he booked him in the jail. He had used the man’s identification card to say his name over the radio, but then placed it in an “obscure pocket in his wallet, thus making it difficult for others to find,” Hummel said.

What’s more: “To ensure his identity remained concealed, rather than following the standard operating procedure of leaving an inmate’s wallet with corrections deputies, you took his wallet back to the Bend Police Department,” Hummel said.

“I find that you did this because you knew that … if the jail knew the suspect’s name, the jail would have released him,” Hummel said in the letter. “You did not want the suspect released from jail, so you lied and said you did not know his name.”

Bend Police investigators found that Enna violated a number of department policies, records show. He was placed on leave in November 2021 and resigned in May 2022. He could not be immediately reached for comment.

Records detail Uballez’s case

Uballez was charged following an incident in which he responded to a 911 call from a group of youths at 12:50 a.m. Prosecutors laid out the facts in court documents filed Wednesday morning.

Authorities say that a drunken Hamlin got into a fight with teenagers, many of whom were students, near Summit High School. Injured, he began running in the road and lay down. Another group of teens saw him and called 911.

Uballez responded with his police dog. He wrote in his police report that Hamlin charged him, fists raised, when he got out of his patrol car. Uballez said he didn’t want to fight and backed away, but Hamlin “continued to act in a hostile manner,” prosecutors said. Uballez told Hamlin to get on his knees.

“Though at first he refused, Hamlin eventually acquiesced as other police units approached, sirens blaring,” prosecutors said.

Enna and Tabaco arrived and told Hamlin to lie on his stomach, which he didn’t, prosecutors say. Uballez explained in his police report that he quickly put Hamlin on his stomach because he had “behaved belligerently and had not yet been searched for weapons,” prosecutors say.

Tabaco “reported hearing Hamlin’s body make a sound as it hit the ground,” prosecutors said.

Enna and Tabaco “expressed concern” about Uballez’s use of force to a supervisor, prompting the ongoing internal investigation.

In an interview with authorities, Hamlin later said he “could not remember the incident or state that he felt substantial pain as a result of the arrest.”

Ultimately, prosecutors acknowledged that the earlier fight with the teens would create “substantial questions as to the cause of Hamlin’s injuries.”

In a statement to The Bulletin on Wednesday, Gunnels added: “Due to the absence of adequate evidence available to establish the manner in which the injuries were sustained, and by whom, the District Attorney’s Office has concluded that we are unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

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