From The Oregonian, December 10, 2009

The City of Portland intends to seek a change of venue for next year’s federal civil rights trial stemming from a lawsuit filed by the family of James Chasse Jr. , the 42-year-old mentally ill man who died in police custody more than three years ago.

The trial also has been pushed back from March 16 to June 1, and extended from an anticipated 13-day jury trial to a 16-day jury trial, according to the federal court case docket.

City attorneys have been given until Jan. 11 to submit a motion to change venue. Attorneys from both sides were not immediately available.

The lawsuit accuses Portland police and American Medical Response paramedics of using excessive force and denying Chasse appropriate medical attention. Multnomah County last summer settled its part of the lawsuit for $925,000.

Three officers arrested Chasse, who suffered from schizophrenia, on Sept. 17, 2006, after one of the officers said Chasse appeared to be urinating in the street. There was no evidence that he had urinated in the street. Police said he ran when they approached. They chased him, knocked him to the ground and struggled to handcuff him.

Medics called to the scene did not take him to a hospital, saying Chasse’s vital signs were normal. But jail staff refused to book him because of his physical condition. Chasse, who suffered from schizophrenia, died while being taken to the hospital in a police car. The medical examiner said he died of broad-based blunt-force trauma to the chest.

Had Chasse received proper medical attention, he probably would have lived, according to Dr. Karen Gunson, the state medical examiner, answering questions in a deposition.

The autopsy found Chasse suffered 26 breaks to 16 ribs, some of which punctured his left lung, and 46 separate abrasions or contusions.

There are three other U.S. District Courts in Oregon, located in Eugene, Medford and Pendleton.

The federal docket also suggests the city has obtained expert testimony that suggests that a condition called “excited delirium” may have contributed to Chasse’s death, although the state medical examiner Dr. The City of Portland intends to seek a change of venue for next year’s federal civil rights trial stemming from a lawsuit filed by the family of James Chasse Jr. , the 42-year-old mentally ill man who died in police custody more than three years ago.

The trial also has been pushed back from March 16 to June 1, and extended from an anticipated 13-day jury trial to a 16-day jury trial, according to the federal court case docket.

City attorneys have been given until Jan. 11 to submit a motion to change venue. Attorneys from both sides were not immediately available.

The lawsuit accuses Portland police and American Medical Response paramedics of using excessive force and denying Chasse appropriate medical attention. Multnomah County last summer settled its part of the lawsuit for $925,000.

Three officers arrested Chasse, who suffered from schizophrenia, on Sept. 17, 2006, after one of the officers said Chasse appeared to be urinating in the street. There was no evidence that he had urinated in the street. Police said he ran when they approached. They chased him, knocked him to the ground and struggled to handcuff him.

Medics called to the scene did not take him to a hospital, saying Chasse’s vital signs were normal. But jail staff refused to book him because of his physical condition. Chasse, who suffered from schizophrenia, died while being taken to the hospital in a police car. The medical examiner said he died of broad-based blunt-force trauma to the chest.

Had Chasse received proper medical attention, he probably would have lived, according to Dr. Karen Gunson, the state medical examiner, answering questions in a deposition.

The autopsy found Chasse suffered 26 breaks to 16 ribs, some of which punctured his left lung, and 46 separate abrasions or contusions.

There are three other U.S. District Courts in Oregon, located in Eugene, Medford and Pendleton.

The federal docket also suggests the city has obtained expert testimony that suggests that a condition called “excited delirium” may have contributed to Chasse’s death, although the state medical examiner Dr. Karen Gunson said she ruled that out based on Chasse’s injuries. Karen Gunson said she ruled that out based on Chasse’s injuries.