We were recently sent a link to this 2015 video shot by Kif Davis of Multnomah County Copwatch. It features a confrontation between Davis and Portland Police Sergeant Kyle Nice on the streets of Portland. Davis asked Nice, "are you the cop that was involved in James Chasse's murder?" Nice responded, "I sure am." To know how damning that statement should be treated by the Portland Police you need to know the context of the murder of James Chasse.
James Chasse died in custody in 2006 after suffering several injuries including 26 broken bones, 16 fractures of his ribs, a punctured lung, broken collar bone, and torn spleen. Then Officer Kyle Nice, Officer Christopher Humphreys, and Multnomah County Sheriff's Deputy Brad Burton were the officers involved in the altercation which they claim began with Chasse acting strange and/or suspiciously. Chasse had schizophrenia, so he didn't have any choice but to act strange sometimes. Having committed no crime, he was of course alarmed by the sudden attention from police, and tried to run away. He was chased, tased, beaten, and arrested. His injuries were so severe and obvious that even the incompetent medical staff at the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) refused to admit him and insisted he be taken to a hospital. He died on the way to the hospital. The county medical examiner ruled the death both accidental and the result of blunt force trauma. Think about that for a second, how does one accidentally inflict the amount of blunt force trauma necessary to cause the aforementioned injuries? They can't, unless they accidentally knocked him off a cliff and he hit every ledge on the way down.
Sgt. Nice and Officer Humphreys were suspended for 80 hours initially, but those sanctions were overturned after arbitration with the Portland Police Association (PAA) after which the city had to pay them for the lost work. The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office did present a case before a grand jury. No indictment was returned. The goal of the government when doing such things is to present the grand jury with a white washed version of events designed to vindicate officers.
Why doesn't Multnomah County' new District Attorney Mike Schmidt convene a new grand jury with this video? Since the officer were never charged it would not violate double jeopardy.