California police fired tear gas, pepper spray and bullets at black man afraid to leave hotel room during mental health crisis, lawsuit says

A man who survived a police shooting at a hotel outside Oakland, California, greater than two years ago has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, claiming he was unable to face law enforcement at his door due to a mental health episode he had at the time. they entered and opened fire.

Ashton Porter suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen and arm following an intense 20-hour standoff at the Pittsburg Hampton Inn in a February 24, 2022 shooting, according to an attorney representing the Georgia father of six.

The civil criticism requires a jury trial and seeks unspecified damages.

The lawsuit, filed May 28, alleges misconduct by several heavily armed Pittsburgh police officers who used tear gas and pepper spray in Porter’s hotel room to force him to leave but never attempted to “peacefully” enter.

The lawsuit alleges that officers unnecessarily escalated the situation regardless that nobody’s life was ever at risk.

The lawsuit says Porter was charged with assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon, but those charges were dismissed on May 6 last month.

Porter and his wife Gianna, together with their five children, announced the lawsuit at a press conference held on May 28 with their lawyer Adanté Pointer.

One of their daughters said members of the family called police to the hotel for help, believing they might help calm their father during an apparent mental breakdown.

Instead, a SWAT team showed up like a military strike force, armed with bulletproof vests and assault weapons, which the family says turned a minor health issue right into a life-or-death cause.

“We just wanted to help, find out where he was… I felt like it was our fault that we called the police and we shouldn’t have,” Porter’s daughter said at a news conference. According to Sacramento bee. “What happened was unfair. There was nothing right about it.”

She emphasized, “I’m just grateful he’s here,” as clashes with law enforcement have led to a rise within the death toll amongst black men in America.

Porter, the victim, said he initially hoped officers would give him the assistance he needed in his temporary crisis, explaining he was “going through a really difficult time.”

But when Porter didn’t immediately leave the room, SWAT teams began trying to force their way in, breaking down the door and firing pepper spray and tear gas through the damaged entrance.

Inside, Porter said he was paralyzed with fear.

“This aggressive and unnecessary escalation of the situation fueled Mr. Porter’s fears that the officers intended to harm him and undermined any trust and relationship that had been established,” the legal criticism reads.

Porter was soon overcome by the gases within the room and bumped into the hallway, where, according to the lawsuit, SWAT team members took positions on opposite sides.

Police alleged that Porter had a big knife in his hand when he began to approach officers.

Porter’s lawyer admitted that Porter had a knife, but said he held his hands above his head and didn’t make any threatening movements.

Then the primary shot rang out, and Porter was hit by a non-lethal rubber bullet, but it surely didn’t knock him down.

Two officers fired “two sponge rounds that hit” Porter, but they were ineffective.

Seconds later, Officer Ernesto Mejia-Orozco shot Porter twice with real bullets, knocking him to the ground and ending the confrontation, according to the lawsuit.

“Officers then dragged Mr. Porter down the hall, into the elevator and down to the hotel lobby, even though he had just been shot twice,” the criticism states.

Mejia-Orozco, who not works for the department, was interviewed as a part of the initial investigation and claimed he shot Porter when he “began running down the hall directly at him with a knife drawn,” the criticism says.

However, footage from the officer’s body camera contradicts this account and shows that Porter’s “body was twisting in response to being shot with rubber bullets” before Mejia-Orozco fired two shots.

The standoff began the day before when several 911 calls reported Porter acting “oddly” at the hotel.

Police officers published a video of the incident, which accommodates several shots from police cameras.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Steve Albanese didn’t personally comment on the incident, however the department released an announcement saying officers “exhausted efforts to persuade (Porter) to leave the room” and used chemical irritants only after repeated attempts to end the conflict peacefully.

The lawsuit says Pittsburgh Police Lt. William Hatcher, who led the operation, allegedly fired mental health professionals who arrived on the scene together with his unit.

Hatcher then launched a plan to “aggressively push Mr. Porter out of his room,” the criticism alleges.

The lawsuit names town of Pittsburg, Mejia-Orozco, Hatcher, Sgt. Cory Smith and former Police Chief Brian Addington as defendants.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Mejia-Orozco currently faces criminal charges in two unrelated cases during which he has pleaded not guilty – one involving a bribery scheme in Contra Costa and the opposite involving federal fraud.