Charges against ticket-less MAX rider dropped
PORTLAND, Ore. – Charges against a woman involved in a 2008 altercation with police, after she failed to show train fare, have been dropped.
The mother of the woman involved in that April 2008 altercation at a Gresham MAX station says charges against her daughter were dropped last Thursday. Lisa Coppock, who reportedly had no arrest record before the incident, was scheduled to appear March 16 in Multnomah County Court.
According to a statement Wednesday by the woman's mother, the ticket machine operated by Portland's mass-transit agency, TriMet, was broken and Coppock had the cash for the fare in her hand. She said Portland Police Officer Chris Humphreys asked her to leave the train and then chased her down, "threw her to the ground and slammed her head into the pavement."
Coppock had been charged with theft of services for failing to have the $2.50 MAX ticket, disobeying an officer of the law and resisting arrest. She reportedly was taken to the hospital for stitches before being taken to jail.
"After dozens of court appearances stretching over two years, Lisa stood her ground," said Coppock's mother, Marcia Meyers, in her statement Wednesday. "She never conceded to the system."
Meyers said that it wasn't until after the arrest that Coppock learned, from her court-appointed attorney, that the officer involved was Humphreys. Humphreys has been involved in several high-profile cases including:
- A 2003 case where reportedly the wrong man was dragged from a truck and beaten with a baton (that case reportedly led to the city's out-of-court settlement of more than $133,000);
- The bean-bag shooting of a 12-year-old girl near the MAX in late 2009 (that girl was convicted March 3 on three related charges);
- The death of James Chasse in 2008 (Humphreys is now implicated in a civil lawsuit around the death of James Chasse).
The mother and daughter said they are joining the Albina Ministerial Alliance to urge attendance at an upcoming City Council hearing expected to address changes to Portland's police-oversight division. The City Council meeting is 2 p.m., Thursday, March 18, at City Hall on 1221 S.W. 4th Ave. in Portland.
"This is not just about Lisa's case," Meyers said in her statement. "This is about shining a light on an oppressive system that has many of us living in fear."