Former Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty accepted $5,000 and a written apology from Mayor Ted Wheeler to settle claims against the city stemming from her lawsuit over the leak of an erroneous report that Hardesty was a suspect in a March 2021 hit-and-run.

Hardesty’s case against the Portland police union, its former president and a Portland officer is ongoing and accuses those parties of spreading the mistaken information about Hardesty, Portland’s first Black female commissioner, as race-based retaliation for her political advocacy against discriminatory police practices.

That portion of the case is scheduled to go to trial in Multnomah County Circuit Court next month.

Last week’s settlement with the city includes the provision that the city also will pay Hardesty’s attorney fees for the city’s portion of the lawsuit. Wheeler issued the following statement as part of the settlement:

“Portland Police Bureau employees acting outside the course and scope of their employment leaked confidential information about Commissioner Hardesty. The leaks negatively impacted Commissioner Hardesty’s public image and undermined her efforts to bring about police transformation and reform. The City does not condone these actions. On behalf of the City, I apologize for the conduct.”

Hardesty and her attorney declined to comment Monday.

The lawsuit traces its origin to a March 2021 call to police from a woman named Evelynn Ellis, who said she was involved in a hit-and-run crash with a Black woman she “swore on her life” was Hardesty, according to the lawsuit. Police visited Hardesty’s house several hours later, which the lawsuit called discriminatory because criminal complaints of that nature were rarely investigated at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawsuit accused Brian Hunzeker, former president of the Portland Police Association union, and officer Kerri Ottoman of violating state law and city policy by contacting media outlets and other groups about the erroneous identification of Hardesty.

The false allegation naming Hardesty was published by PJ Media, which describes itself as conservative, and on the Facebook page for the Coalition to Save Portland — a political action committee linked to the city’s police union, the lawsuit alleged.

The union’s attorney, Andrew Campbell, said there are no ties between the committee and the Portland Police Association.

The lawsuit also claimed that Hunzeker contacted a reporter at The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Newsrooms typically do not reveal their sources, other than what they have published. As The Oregonian/OregonLive has previously reported, reporter Maxine Bernstein received multiple tips that Hardesty was named as a suspect in a non-emergency call to police. She reached out to Hardesty immediately, then verified with the Police Bureau and the mayor’s office that there was an active investigation.

She then contacted Hardesty through her office again, obtained the commissioner’s statement denying involvement and included it in her article, published about 11 a.m. on March 4. The Oregonian/OregonLive article was updated throughout the day, including an update to remove an erroneous reference to the victim reporting the license plate of the hit-and-run vehicle.

Police ruled out Hardesty as a suspect in the crash later the same day. Police and prosecutors identified the actual driver as a Black woman from Vancouver.

Hardesty’s case against the Portland Police Association, Hunzeker and Ottoman is set for trial in September, according to Hardesty’s lawyer, Matthew Ellis, who is not related to Evelynn Ellis.

– Austin De Dios; adedios@oregonian.com; @austindedios; 503-319-9744

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