Lawsuit accuses Portland police officer of fatally shooting unarmed Black man in the back

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A police officer in Portland, Oregon, has been accused in a federal lawsuit of fatally shooting an unarmed Black man.

The officer used a semi-automatic rifle to shoot Immanueal “Manny” Clark in the back as he ran away from officers who were responding to an attempted armed robbery call in the early hours of Nov. 19, 2022, according to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Oregon on Thursday.

The officers mistakenly identified the car Clark had been traveling in and had been told by dispatchers that the robbery suspects were white men, the lawsuit says.

The suit accuses the officer and the city of Portland of excessive force, wrongful death and negligence for failing to provide emergency medical care. It claims Clark lay on the ground, bleeding from the gunshot wound, for 26 minutes before receiving medical attention. He later died in a hospital.

In response to requests for comment, the Portland Police Bureau and City Hall both said they do not comment on pending litigation.

According to the complaint, the victim of the attempted armed robbery in the parking lot of a Portland fast-food restaurant called 911 to report it and said three to four white men were involved. They said the men left the scene in a sedan.

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Police ended up following a car despite not having probable cause that those inside were involved in the attempted robbery, the complaint alleges. After the car pulled into a church parking lot, officers decided to approach the car and conduct a so-called “high-risk stop.”

Clark was outside of the car near the driver’s door and ran as the officers exited their police cars. As he ran away, unarmed, the officer shot Clark in the back, according to the complaint.

The other people in or near the car were a Black man, a white woman and a white man, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit was filed by a representative of Clark’s estate.