Date of Offense
Offense(s)
Official Statement
In Andrews, the plaintiff alleged that she was seriously injured by St. Helens officers who responded to her August 2020 domestic-violence call. Her original complaint asserted federal claims for arrest without probable cause, unreasonable use of force, supervisory liability, and Monell liability, plus state-law claims for false arrest, assault and battery, and malicious prosecution.
The litigation later became significant because Andrews sought leave to amend after discovery. According to the court’s order, Andrews alleged she learned that Raethke had not received use-of-force training and was apparently involved in approximately 12% of all use-of-force claims for all City officers; she also alleged that text messages showed command staff assigned a leadership member to work with Raethke in writing his report of the August 2020 incident.
The magistrate judge recommended granting leave to amend, including adding negligent hiring/training/supervision allegations and adding facts learned in discovery. Judge Karin J. Immergut adopted that recommendation and granted the motion on May 10, 2024.
