Multnomah County Pays Man Who Pled Guilty to "Assaulting" Deputy

Multnomah County recently settled a federal lawsuit with the founder of a police misconduct reporting website which he filed as his own attorney over the breaking of his left arm at the hands of correctional deputies in 2017. CopBlaster.com founder Cyrus Sullivan or Portland, Oregon subsequently pled guilty to one count of assaulting a federal officer for how he provoked the deputies but always insisted his arm was broken intentionally after the fact.

Background

Sullivan launched Cop Blaster in 2017 after a federal prosecutor doxxed his old address. He realized two could play that game and doxxed the government back. Eventually the two sides became more amicable so Cop Blaster now blocks home addresses and Sullivan's old address is no longer listed on law enforcement websites.

During that time Sullivan was charged with violating the terms of his federal supervision in a failed effort to shut the website down. While in jail Sullivan decided to make the most of it by promoting his website to fellow inmates and leveraging it when staff did things he did not like. The staff did not like that very much.

On June 28, 2017, Sullivan was told to go to the sally port for transfer to disciplinary housing over a minor infraction. Sullivan instead retreated to his cell, flushed contraband, and threatened to doxx responding deputies if they didn't retreat and abandon their effort to take him to disciplinary. Deputies eventually stormed Sullivan's cell and were hit with a handful of spicy tortilla chips he'd purchased from the commissary.

While the criminal case was pending U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez recused himself and the court put out a request for an out of district judge. This resulted in Arizona judges hearing Sullivan's cases from then on.

Disputed Facts

What happened after Sullivan threw chips has been the subject of debate ever since due to a lack of video evidence. Every deputy involved claimed Sullivan's arm was broken during the cell extraction while Sullivan always maintained that his arm was broken in the disciplinary unit on the floor below after transport was complete while he was pinned face down to mattress.

Criminal Case

Sullivan became the first federal detainee housed in Multnomah County to be charged with assaulting a federal officer whose alleged conduct did not amount to aggravated assault. Sullivan's lawyers mounted an unsuccessful selective prosecution challenge on those grounds because the only factor which seemed to distinguish Sullivan from the others was the fact that he legally spoke out against law enforcement online.

No Proof of Injured Deputies

Deputies claimed in incident reports that Sullivan ground the spicy chips into a powder and used it as a weapon "like pepper spray" by throwing it in their eyes. At least one deputy claimed to have experienced a burning sensation hours later but none of them sought medical care. Sullivan put that deputies' theory to the test by putting some spicy chip powder in his own eye which resulted in a painful burn that lasted 10-20 minutes despite Sullivan flushing the eye out with water. This led Sullivan to conclude that nobody could possibly feel it hours later unless they didn't do anything to flush their eyes out.

Deputies also claimed that Sullivan landed several punches, elbows, and kicks during the cell extraction, but none of the deputies took pictures of their alleged injures. Sullivan's lawyers retained the services of a bruise expert who would have testified that Sullivan's conduct would have caused bruising. This likely precluded the government from being able to present a plausible case of assault with bodily injury in violation of 18 U.S.C. 111(b).

Expert Witness Report

Sullivan's lawyers retained the services of biomechanics expert Dr. Wilson "Toby" Hayes to prove that Sullivan's explanation is the only explanation scientifically capable of explaining his injury. Dr. Hayes' expert witness report was dumped on the prosecution just a couple weeks before trial after which Sullivan was quickly offered time served if he pled guilty to the lesser charge of assault with physical contact and no injury in violation of 18 U.S.C.(a)(1) under the reasonable apprehension of harm prong.

Lawsuit

Sullivan filed a pro se lawsuit in June of 2019 for excessive force, inadequate medical care, and other things. Many of Sullivan's claims were dismissed at summary judgment but his excessive force claim under the 14th Amendment, state law battery, and state law medical negligence claims survived.

14th Amendment

As a federal detainee awaiting sentencing for a supervised release violation, Sullivan was considered the legal equivalent of a pretrial detainee. Pretrial detainees need only show that force used was "objectively unreasonable" because unreasonable force is considered punishment without due process. On the other hand, convicted prisoners serving a sentence must meet the higher standards of an 8th Amendment's cruel and unusual punishment clause which requires a showing of malicious intent. Sullivan always maintained that his arm was intentionally broken as a punishment which would satisfy the 8th Amendment but as a pretrial type detainee he only needed to show that twisting his arm that hard at that time was unreasonable. See Kingsley v. Hendrickson.

State Law Battery

Sullivan's state law battery claim was basically the same as his 14th Amendment claim. Sullivan simply would have had to show that he was the victim of an unjustified battery.

Inadequate Medical Care

Sullivan was taken to his outside follow up a month late and denied a proper brace which would have made his recovery less painful. The brace known as a "Sarmiento Brace" would have stopped his bone from moving as much and may have resulted in it healing at a better angle.

Sullivan relied on the expert opinion of an orthopedic surgeon in California while the county retained the team doctor from the Portland Timbers to say Sullivan's care was adequate. The county also argued that institutional safety concerns justified denying the brace due to it having metal parts.

Pro-Bono Lawyer Appointed

In March of 2023, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Zipps put out a sua sponte request for pro bono counsel to help Sullivan prosecute the rest of his case more smoothly. Juan Chavez of the Oregon Justice Resource Center accepted the appointment and represented Sullivan through the remainder of the proceedings.

Settlement Conference

In June of 2023, a settlement conference was held in from of U.S. Magistrate Judge Lynnette Kimmins. During that conference the county agreed to pay Sullivan $21,000 for pain and suffering. Judge Kimmins thought the case was worth $20,000. Sullivan was disappointed with the dollar figure but also recognized the high likelihood of a mistrial, the tendency of jurors not to want to reward people who would be just fine had they cooperated with law enforcement, and the fact that the methods used to calculate pain and suffering produced numbers in that range.

Broken arms without surgery do not produce significant medical bills. Typically medical bills are multiplied by a number between 1.5 and 5 based on severity of the injury to determine pain and suffering (See Forbes pain and suffering calculator). Sullivan would be surprised if the county spent more than $5,000 on his care and wouldn't give his injury a severity score of more than 4 or possibly 4.5 due to pain. That produces a range between $20,000 and $22,000 but Sullivan believes the county likely spent less than $4,000. An ambulance ride, ER visit with x-rays, follow-up with x-rays, and in house appointments are not terribly expensive.

Sullivan had no legal bills due to representing himself before pro bono counsel was appointed, had no medical bills due to being an inmate, and could not claim lost wages due to serving a supervised release revocation sentence while recovering. All the lawsuit cost Sullivan was time and energy.

Conclusion

Just because you can't find a lawyer to represent you right away does not mean you have no recourse. You can file a federal civil rights lawsuit as your own lawyer and argue it until the court appoints a lawyer for you or you can take the case to trial yourself.