Suit: Portland Cop Fractured Woman's Leg

An Albany woman stopped for DUII by Portland Police says that an officer deliberately slammed her car door on her leg, fracturing her tibia.

Shonda Marie Amundsen, 39, filed a lawsuit Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleging that on the night of Feb. 18, she was stopped by officers Chase Bryson and Timothy Hoerauf near Northeast 78th Avenue and Wygant Street.

Hoerauf "deliberately slammed the door of Ms. Amundsen's car with sufficient force to cause a comminuted fracture of the head of her tibia," according to the suit, filed by Portland attorneys Greg and Jason Kafoury.

The suit asks for $300,000, plus economic damages from her recovery. It says that Amundsen had major surgery and continues to suffer from "pain, discomfort, disability and interference with ordinary activities."

Amundsen pleaded no contest to the DUII charge and was sentenced to diversion classes. Her court records show just one other ticket for failing to obey a traffic control device in 1994.

A Jan. 20, 2011 Oregonian story says that both Hoerauf and Bryson were part of the same recruiting class.

Hoerauf was described as a 25-year-old who "grew up in Banks, and graduated from West View High School in Beaverton. He then joined the U.S. Navy. He follows his father, the late Nate Hoerauf, into a Portland police career"

Bryson, the story says, was born in Billings, Mont. "He moved to Portland to study for a bachelor's degree in biblical studies. He finished his junior year before getting hired by the bureau."

The suit follows another filed by the Kafourys in April alleging brutality in another DUII case, and first reported by WW, in which security footage shows Portland officers Tasing and punching Jason Cox, who was down on the ground. A trial for that case has not been scheduled.

Both the Kafourys were not immediately available for comment.

Portland Police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson says that bureau cannot comment on pending litigation.

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