By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian
Officer Scott McCollister, leaning into a Chevy Cavalier with his left foot on the driver’s floorboard and his right foot on the street, grabbed at Kendra James’ hair. He pulled off her wig and tossed it on the ground as he tried to get her out of the driver’s seat.
Officer Kenneth Reynolds III, at the driver’s door, pulled out his taser gun and nudged McCollister to move slightly so he could shoot. He saw a clear shot to James’ back and fired the stun gun.
James, unfazed as she tried to flee arrest, put the car into gear. McCollister felt the car shudder and drew his 9 mm pistol. He raised it in his right hand, near James’ head and shouted, “Turn off the (expletive) car! Turn off the car!”
The car started to move. McCollister said he started to lose his footing and fell back toward the open driver’s door. He heard a clicking sound from Reynolds’ taser gun.
“While I fell back toward the door jamb and out of the vehicle, I fired my service pistol,” McCollister told investigators four days after the shooting. “I fired my gun ‘cause I thought I was gonna die. I was scared. I thought I was gonna be dragged down the street.”
The car continued east. McCollister and Reynolds ran back to their patrol cars, and drove past the car to box it in. McCollister opened the driver’s door and found James slumped over the driver’s wheel, unconscious. His 9 mm bullet had entered her left lower hip and lodged under her right breast. She was pronounced dead at 3:48 a.m.
Portland police investigative reports and autopsy results released Monday provided the first detailed account of the May 5 shooting that killed James, a 21-year-old woman who tried to run from a traffic stop to avoid arrest. The Portland Police Bureau released 600 pages of reports the same day a Multnomah County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing by the three officers involved in the stop.
The incident began as a routine traffic stop during North Precinct Officer Rick Bean’s patrol. Bean, 23, saw a dark Chevrolet Cavalier leave the parking lot of the Budget Motel on North Interstate Avenue, a motel he said he watched because it was the site of frequent drug deals. The car pulled in front of him, and he ran its plate, as he said he did for almost every car he sees leaving the motel at that hour.
He followed the car south on Interstate Avenue. It turned into the left turn lane when it reached North Skidmore Street, and Bean noticed the driver didn’t put the turn signal on right away. The car turned onto Skidmore Street, but Bean said it went through a stop sign at North Maryland Avenue.
He said the car came “almost to a complete stop at the stop sign,” but their tires “didn’t completely stop.”
He put his lights and siren on. The Chevy pulled over on North Skidmore Street, on the west side of the Interstate 5 overpass.
At 2:40 a.m., he radioed to dispatch to report that he had made a traffic stop. He walked to the driver’s door, and the driver rolled down the window. Bean asked for the driver’s license and proof of insurance. The driver said he forgot his license.
Bean recognized James in the back seat. He had stopped James three times in the past 45 days, twice on warrants.
“Kendra, I know who you are,” Bean said to her.
Bean got the names of the driver and three passengers, and went back to his car to see whether they had any warrants. He radioed for backup. Reynolds was dispatched, and McCollister, who was nearby, put himself onto the call.
Bean conferred with the officers when they arrived. He warned them James had struggled with him and tried to escape in the past. This time, he found a warrant for her arrest for failing to appear in court.
They decided to take the driver into custody, then deal with James. McCollister joined Bean in handcuffing the driver, Terry White, and placed him in the back of Bean’s patrol car.
Bean then returned to the car and knocked on the rear passenger door. He told James to get out because he knew about her warrant. She locked the door. He tried the driver’s side. He reached into the back seat and unlocked the back door. He opened it, but James didn’t budge and Bean said he didn’t want to reach into the car.
Instead, Bean walked around to the passenger side and had Darnell White step from the front passenger seat. White stepped out and sat on the ground. As Bean reached into the car to unlock the back door, he and the other officers saw James jump into the driver’s seat. They thought she might try to run out the front door. The three officers quickly ran to the driver’s side.
Bean ran around the front of the car, and yelled, “Taser! taser! taser!” encouraging his fellow officer to use the stun gun. McCollister and Reynolds ran to the driver’s door, first to block James from escaping.
McCollister pulled out his can of pepper spray with his left hand and tried to pull James out with his other hand. He said he depressed his pepper mace as James’ arms flailed around. Police said nothing was sprayed. McCollister grabbed James’ hair to pull her out of the car and pulled off her wig.
The car started to move. Reynolds fired his taser gun. He said he thought a probe from his taser gun struck James in the neck. But she didn’t respond. He heard the car start and begin to move. He saw the wires protruding from the taser gun break away.
McCollister pulled out his gun, said he started to fall back and fired one shot.
“The reason I pulled my firearm is because as soon as she put the vehicle in drive, I knew the vehicle could accelerate away faster than I could get out of the vehicle,” McCollister said.
After he fired, he said he managed to get away from the car, according to interview transcripts. He said he didn’t remember what he shot at, or how many times he fired.
“I know that I shot until I was able to get free,” he said. “I don’t know why it only required only one shot.”
Reynolds, when asked if he feared for his safety, told investigators, “The vehicle was going away from me so I wasn’t in fear for my safety.”
Bean had already crossed in front of the car and was standing about 3 to 6 feet behind McCollister and Reynolds. For a brief moment, he had his gun drawn.
“I was trying to figure out why I had my gun out . . . because I didn’t have a clean shot,” he said. He had his gun out briefly and then placed it back in its holster.
When the two officers who did not fire the fatal shot were asked what they thought about the shooting, Reynolds said McCollister fired to save his own life. Bean said he didn’t see McCollister shoot; he just heard it.
James, slumped over the driver’s wheel, was removed from the Chevy and handcuffed. Reynolds said he did not give emergency first aid to James because he thought James was “faking.” He said he saw her eyes open, with drool coming from her mouth. An ambulance arrived and started CPR, but paramedics said James was lifeless as they carried her by ambulance to Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center.
Other officers and detectives arrived at the scene in the predawn hours to begin investigating. One officer putting up police tape told investigators he saw McCollister talking on a cell phone, crying and upset, at the crime scene.
Three days after the shooting, police photographed a bruise on McCollister’s right thigh, two bruises on his right side and swelling on his right foot. He said he didn’t seek medical attention until a day or two days after the shooting.
McCollister, when questioned by investigators, said he had dinner with Reynolds the Tuesday night after the shooting, before his interview with police. But he said the events of the shooting were not discussed.
When one detective asked him, “Do you feel that your shot accomplished your intention?”
McCollister replied, “Yes, I’m alive today.”