Skip to main content
The Portland City Council approved a $3.75 million settlement this week to the estate of Immanueal Clark, an unarmed Black man who was fatally shot and killed by a Portland police officer in November 2022.
Police mistook Clark for a suspect in an armed robbery, and pursued him by vehicle and on foot. Officers also mistakenly thought he was armed. Clark was neither armed nor the suspect in the robbery.
Officer Christopher Sathoff fatally shot Clark in the back on Nov. 19, 2022, as Clark ran away from him after officers spotted Clark’s car in a church parking lot.
Police Chief Bob Day decided not to discipline Sathoff, despite an Internal Affairs investigator concluding in a 2024 report that Sathoff had acted out of bureau policy when he fired three shots at Clark as he ran away. Sathoff remains in an “off-street” position within the Police Bureau, Day said.
Day defended his decision to the council on Thursday afternoon.
“The decision that’s often most brought into question is why the officer was not disciplined for this action. That decision was mine,” Day said. “I’m required by law to be able to take that anger and frustration and that loss and approach my decision-making from an objectively reasonable standard.”
Day determined that Sathoff’s actions were found to be within city policy because he felt Sathoff had reason to believe Clark was armed and might be a fleeing suspect.
Day said he’d worked with the available information. “When a police officer uses force, they look at whether it’s objectively reasonable,” he said.
Councilors, many visibly upset, questioned that determination.
“The robbers were white. And Manny was clearly black,” Councilor Loretta Smith said. “Manny was running in one direction, and the police were following him. They assumed he had something in his waist...when they checked him, he did not have any sort of gun on him.”
Smith asked Day to reconcile how it’s possible that he determined Sathoff had acted within policy and an Internal Affairs investigator determined the opposite.
Councilor Angelita Morillo called the killing of Clark a “massive injustice” and “massive miscalculation” by officers, and said she found it chilling that it took 26 minutes for Clark to receive medical care after he was shot by Sathoff.
“When we’re talking about matters of discretion, the split-second decisions are actually signs of bias from our police officers,” Morillo said. “Because when you’re making a split-second decision in a high-tension situation, you’re going to fall back on the biases you’ve been imbued with.”
Councilor Candace Avalos said she was disturbed by Day’s decision not to discipline Sathoff, and disturbed that Sathoff remained employed by the Police Bureau.
“But most of all, I’m disturbed that Manny Clark paid the ultimate price with his life,” Avalos said.
Councilor Jamie Dunphy said he was “disgusted” that no officer was disciplined, and that Sathoff was “patted on the back and given an ‘atta boy’ and sent back out to do his duty.”
“I’m shocked that in 2025,” Dunphy said, “we are continuing to have this conversation.”
The council voted unanimously to approve the settlement.
