The estate of a man shot and killed by Portland police, and whose death caused debate inside the bureau over whether the shooting was appropriate, has settled with the city for $3.75 million.

A Portland Police Bureau officer fatally shot Immanueal Clark, 30, in the back as he fled from a police stop in November 2022. Officers had wrongfully believed that Clark was part of an armed robbery earlier in the evening. Clark was unarmed.

A grand jury cleared Officer Chris Sathoff of any crimes. But, in a rare move, Internal Affairs investigators found Sathoff broke PPB’s own rules because he had no probable cause tying Clark to the robbery when he fired three bullets from a rifle. Top brass ultimately sided with the officer.

The settlement is the largest on record paid by the city to an individual plaintiff, according to a database maintained by the advocacy group Portland Copwatch. It heads off the prospect of facing Clark’s estate, who filed its wrongful-death lawsuit in March 2024, in a civil trial.

Portland City Councilors on Thursday unanimously supported the settlement.

The vote followed a tense hearing where elected officials questioned how and why internal affairs investigators and bureau leadership disagreed about whether the shooting was proper. Councilors questioned the bureau’s training and, at times, accused staff at the meeting of downplaying the facts of the shooting.

“I was trying to close my eyes and listen to this (presentation). And if I would have listened to just your description of it, I would’ve had a different leaning towards this,” Councilor Loretta Smith said.

Shortly after midnight Nov. 19, 2022, a 911 caller reported he had been robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot of a Super Deluxe fast-food restaurant in Southeast Portland.

The caller said the robber was wearing a ski mask and hoodie, carried a gun and got in a getaway car with others inside. The caller said the suspects were all men and “definitely white.”

Portland internal affairs found a 2022 police shooting out of policy. Top brass dismissed the finding

That information was relayed by dispatchers to officers, who then searched for a sedan fleeing the area. Police air support then spotted a speeding sedan and directed officers to it as it parked at a church near Reed College.

Five officers arrived at the church, according to records. When police hit their lights, Clark, who is Black, and another man fled on foot.

Sathoff said during grand jury testimony that Clark had been “digging his pockets” as he ran away. He said he thought Clark may have a gun. He fired three bullets from an AR-15 rifle.

The staff presentation Thursday said officers were told there was “at least one” white suspect, while civil attorneys said officers were told there were “three to four white males” in the car. Clark’s car had a white female, two Black men and a Hispanic man.

Smith said the discrepancy showed how Black and white Portlanders are still treated differently by police.

“We did know the description of the robbers — and the robbers were white. And Manny is clearly Black,” Smith said. “They assumed he had something in his waist and that’s why they shot.”

When prosecutors deemed the shooting justified in 2023, they noted that Clark had an outstanding arrest warrant for possessing a stolen vehicle and fleeing a police officer. The vehicle he was driving had been reported stolen as well.

Ashlee Albies, an attorney representing Clark’s estate, noted in the hearing that Sathoff presented a more dangerous picture of the situation when he testified in front of a grand jury. Sathoff reportedly said that Clark emerged from the car, ran towards police initially, paused to reach toward his waistband and then ran away.

Video footage recorded by the police air support showed Clark running without pause and immediately away from police before being shot in the back.

That Portland Police Chief Bob Day and then-Mayor Ted Wheeler found the shooting to be within policy came under scrutiny during the city council meeting. The move ran counter to internal affairs investigator Stacey Rovinelli’s January 2024 report. She found that Sathoff broke bureau policy all three times he pulled the trigger.

The Independent Police Review Board, which includes four Portland Police Bureau members, two community members and a staff member of the board, ultimately voted 4–3 that the shooting was within policy. Records do not show who voted, only the final tally.

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Speaking to city council, Day said it was his final decision to deem the shooting appropriate. He said he believed Sathoff acted reasonably according to the facts present at the time. A landmark 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision says deadly force is legal if there’s an “objectively reasonable” fear of an immediate threat.

Day said that while he, too, was angered by Clark’s death, he is “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 told councilors that the bureau had made changes since the shooting three years ago, including how it trains officers how to use rifles.

Still, councilors vented that the city is paying yet another settlement for a death caused by Portland police. Many were not satisfied by the bureau’s answers.

Councilor Mitch Green, a U.S. Army veteran, said Sathoff had the upper hand when Clark fled the scene because he was armed with an assault rifle and able to take cover of his patrol car.

“There’s no reasonable interpretation that says this was the good thing to do and this was in policy,” Green said. “We cannot tolerate this anymore. $3.75 million would be better spent keeping tenants in their homes, frankly.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/07/portland-settlement-estate-immanueal-clark/