In the early morning hours of November 19, 2022, a 30-year-old Black man named Imueal Jaquez Ny Clark-johnson, known to his family as Manny, was shot and killed by a Portland police officer. The events leading to his death began shortly after midnight, at 12:24 a.m., when police received a report of an armed robbery in Southeast Portland. The victim of the robbery described the suspects as three to four white men.
A short time later, an officer spotted a car being driven recklessly and
believed it matched the vague description of the suspect vehicle from the robbery. Officers followed the car, which eventually stopped in a church parking lot in the 2900 block of Southeast Steele Street. As police moved in, Clark-johnson, who was the driver of the vehicle and was unarmed, got out and began to run. At 12:41 a.m., Officer Christopher Sathoff, a 4-year veteran of the police bureau, shot Clark-johnson in the back with an AR-15 rifle. It was later confirmed that Clark-johnson and the other occupants of the car were not involved in the armed robbery that police were investigating.
After being shot, Clark-johnson was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. He ultimately succumbed to the single gunshot wound and passed away. The Portland Police Bureau's Homicide Unit, in conjunction with the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, investigated the shooting. In August 2023, a grand jury reviewed the evidence and determined that the officer's use of deadly force was not criminal under Oregon law, and therefore, no criminal charges were filed against Officer Sathoff.
Following the grand jury's decision, Clark-johnson's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Portland and Officer Sathoff. The lawsuit alleged that the officer used excessive force and that police failed to provide timely medical aid to Clark-johnson for nearly 25 minutes after he was shot. In August 2025, the Portland City Council unanimously approved a $3.75 million settlement with his family. During the council session, several city councilors expressed concerns about the police bureau's handling of the incident and the discrepancies in the case, particularly the fact that officers pursued a car with Black occupants when the robbery suspects had been described as white.
