The Portland, Oregon police chief has stepped down amid a criminal investigation into allegations that he lied about shooting a friend, making him the latest top cop in the US to lose his job in the wake of a high-profile scandal.
Police bureau chief Larry O’Dea accidentally shot a close friend in the back while hunting in April, but initially told local police that the injured man had shot himself, according to investigators.
At a press conference Monday morning at city hall, mayor Charlie Hales announced that O’Dea had chosen to “retire” and slammed reporters for their coverage of the controversy.
“I’ll continue to wait on passing judgment until I have all the facts,” Hales said. “I’ve been very disappointed by the trial by media … I would ask you to be as energetic in clearing his name as you have been in smearing it.”
O’Dea’s departure makes the Portland police bureau one of many urban law enforcement agencies to have its leader step aside or be pushed out following news of alleged misconduct over the last year.
Police chiefs in Baltimore and Chicago were fired on the heels of controversial deaths involving law enforcement, and the top cops in San Francisco and Ferguson, Missouri, resigned amid scandals surrounding accusations of racism and bias.
The police department in Oakland, California has faced international scrutiny this month for losing three chiefs in one week after local news exposed a major sexual misconduct scandal allegedly involving at least 14 officers.
The O’Dea controversy blew up a month after the hunting accident, which happened in Harney County, 350 miles east of Portland. The shooting was not made public until officials in Harney County revealed that O’Dea had not told investigators that his .22-caliber rifle went off and did not identify himself as the Portland chief.
The Harney County sheriff further told the Oregonian that a deputy only learned that O’Dea had fired the shot after interviewing the victim weeks later.
State police and the Oregon department of justice are now conducting a criminal investigation.
When news first broke last month, O’Dea was placed on leave. At that time, the police department described the incident as a “negligent discharge” that injured one of O’Dea’s “very close friends”.
“I’m very thankful that my friend is ok and I’m tremendously upset this happened,” O’Dea said in a statement in May.
On Monday, O’Dea’s lawyer Derek Ashton said in an email that the former chief expects the ongoing investigations will “clear up gross misstatements of facts contained in early reports”.
Ashton said O’Dea was not intoxicated at the time of the shooting, adding: “He did not purposely point his gun at any person and did not knowingly discharge a firearm in the direction of his lifelong friend. His thoughts and prayers have been with his friend from the moment the accident occurred.”
At the news conference, which was interrupted by shouting protesters and had to be relocated to another room, Hales repeatedly declined to comment on the investigation or say whether O’Dea had misled the mayor about the shooting.
“Larry has served Portland so well, and I’m sad, and we should all be sad, to lose his service.”
Hales announced that Mike Marshman, a police captain, would be stepping up as chief.
Teressa Raiford, a lead organizer with Don’t Shoot Portland, a group critical of the police bureau, said it was unfair that O’Dea would be able to reap the benefits of retirement while the criminal inquiry is pending.
“He needs to be fired or suspended,” she said. “He’s getting all of the accolades and benefits that would be given to a professional officer who has had a lot of successes. He’s not leaving under successful terms. He’s leaving under investigation.”
