Boer War

An off-duty Portland cop calls a downtown clubgoer's friends "strippers and whores," then attacks her in what one witness calls a "catfight."

Sounds like all the elements of yet another tale of police wrongdoing. But that's not the whole story.

A Multnomah County grand jury on Oct. 13 declined to indict the officer in the middle of the fight, Michele Boer, 25, on charges of fourth-degree assault, attempted fourth-degree assault and harassment. Boer was assigned to the Police Bureau's Telephone Reporting Unit pending investigation.

Just as significantly, police reports from the scene reveal that, from the start, cops were upfront with the victims that Boer was an off-duty officer. Hundreds of pages of interviews and reports show the case was thoroughly investigated by detectives—evidence of how far the bureau has come since 2002.

That year, cops arrested off-duty officers Grant Bailey and Jason Hampton for beating a man outside a downtown strip club. The incident surfaced only after a cop wrote an anonymous letter to City Hall. Then-Chief Mark Kroeker disciplined six cops for quashing an investigation—including Rosie Sizer, a commander who later became chief before retiring in May.

The Boer fight wasn't nearly as vicious. But this time, instead of engaging in an active cover-up, all signs indicate police properly investigated and then handed the case over to prosecutors.

"It's a step forward for them to take control of a scene and deal with it as though it were any other person," says Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch. "(But) because it is an officer, what's going to happen to her now as far as bringing discredit on the bureau?"

Lt. Kelli Sheffer, a bureau spokeswoman, did not respond by press time.

Police reports say that shortly after 2:30 am on Sunday, Sept. 19, Boer and two friends walked into the Pita Pit restaurant on Southwest 10th Avenue after hitting the clubs. Boer—who was unarmed—ordered her food, then placed her chips and drink on an empty table.

Later, Boer saw 24-year-old Shannon Wight of Southwest Portland sitting at the table, eating Boer's chips. Wight said she thought the chips belonged to her friends and offered to buy Boer new chips.

Wight got back in line with her friends, and an argument began. Boer called Wight's friends "anorexic strippers and whores," according to the detectives' report. Wight's friends commented on what they called Boer's "fat rolls."

Boer told them she wasn't fat, and she took off her shirt to expose a tank top, flexing her biceps. Boer lunged at the group, threw two punches and grabbed Wight's hair. Wight grabbed Boer's hair in response, and the two women struggled on the floor until bystanders separated them.

John Harris, who had met Boer just before the fight at the Old Town club Dirty, described the altercation as a "catfight." Other witnesses noted that Boer identified herself as a cop during the struggle.

"It was just back and forth, kind of like petty bickering, and then it just erupted into a fight," Pita Pit employee Vincent Nguyen told detectives.

Boer and one of Wight's friends placed separate 9-1-1 calls. Six cops arrived, interviewed witnesses and collected a clump of hair as evidence (it's not clear from the reports whose it was). Police said it appeared both sides had been drinking. Wight said she didn't want to press charges.

"I wanted her to be aware the person she had the altercation with was a police officer and she was not under the impression any of the officers investigating the incident were trying to hide anything or sweep anything under the carpet," Officer Matt Jamison wrote in his report.

Wight called police the next day to say she wished to press charges. The subsequent investigation revealed the fight was not Boer's first encounter with police that night. According to the report, about two hours before the Pita Pit incident, a "very intoxicated and agitated" Boer flagged down Officer Todd Harris in Old Town. Boer told him she believed a stranger was trying to break into cars.

"My police officer friends are here, and I am going to fuck you up," Boer told the unidentified man once Harris and his partner arrived, according to the detectives' report.

Cops took the man to Hooper Detox Center because he appeared drunk. But Harris let Boer go. He later told investigators her behavior that night was not typical.

"It's sad," Harris said, "that's the kind of person everybody had to see for that brief moment."

Caught On Tape

Here's the security video of the incident from the Pita Pit. The fight starts around 4:23.

WWeek 2015