A woman died in the hospital after a courtesy transport by Portland Police Officers.
On Sunday, December 24, 2023 at 10:52p.m., East Precinct officers responded to a report of a priority threat call in the 2600 block of Southeast 160th Avenue. When officers arrived at 10:58p.m., they found the caller standing in the parking area of an apartment, conscious, alert, and talking. They spoke to her and she did not want to report any crime, and was unhurt. The officers looked for any sign of injury and saw none. However, the 69-year-old woman asked to go to the hospital for mental health reasons. Officers requested an ambulance to transport her to the hospital but were informed by dispatchers that no ambulances were available.
Officers offered to transport her to Adventist Health Portland Hospital as a courtesy, which is a service officers commonly provide when there is no sign of medical distress or injury. She agreed. Officers patted her down for weapons, which is required by policy, but did not handcuff her as she was not in custody and was free to go at any time.
One officer drove and the other officer monitored her from the passenger seat. As the officers were nearing the hospital, in the area of Southeast 112th Avenue and Southeast Market Street, the officers noticed that she was no longer talking to them and was beginning to slump over in the back seat. Concerned about her welfare, and knowing professional medical assistance was close by, officers increased their speed and arrived the hospital’s emergency room entrance moments later. One officer immediately began to assess the woman while the other ran inside to ask for medical assistance. She was unconscious and brought inside Adventist hospital for treatment. Despite medical lifesaving efforts, she died in the hospital.
Because PPB officers had assisted the woman before her death, Portland Police Detectives, Chief Bob Day, and the Portland City Attorney’s office were notified. Chief Day responded to the hospital and was briefed on scene. Because the woman was never in custody, and she was in the hospital when she died, it is not a police-involved death. The related PPB case number is 23-331182.
On December 26, 2023, a man who identified himself as the woman’s boyfriend called to report her missing. East Precinct officers responded and informed him what happened and offered to answer any questions he had.
The death investigation and cause and manner of death is the jurisdiction of the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s office (M.E.). The M.E. confirmed the identity of the woman and notified her next of kin.
Source: Portland Police