Portland police officer issues apology to woman he hit, shoved during 2020 process

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - A Portland Police officer accused of assaulting a woman during a Portland protest in 2020 issued an apology.

This came after fourth-degree assault charges filed against officer Corey Budworth were dismissed last week.

“I acknowledge the physical and emotional harm my actions caused, and I’m committed to ensuring that I do not cause this kind of harm moving forward,” Budworth said in the video.

Budworth’s charges came after he hit, shoved, and knocked Teri Jacobs to the ground before hitting her in the face with a baton on the night of August 18, 2020.

Almost three years later, the apology video is part of what Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt calls a restorative justice process.

He said Jacobs and Budworth chose to pursue that path rather than a trial, and met with one another over a series of months to discuss the situation before reaching a resolution they both felt was satisfactory.

“For me, this case is emblematic of something that’s needed to be addressed for a long time in our community,” Schmidt said. “I think the fact that Teri and Corey Budworth could get together and have those conversations and that dialogue is hopefully symbolic of what we need as a community to heal.”

He said that if either party had chosen not to participate, the office would have prosecuted the case as normal and things would have been resolved through a trial.

However, Schmidt said, that route leaves bitter feelings on the table on both sides and can prevent true healing from taking place.

Juan Chavez with the Oregon Justice Resource Center represented Teri Jacobs in the case, and says this process has been a long time coming.

“A lot of people in the criminal legal world have been wanting a different alternative to what we know as what is known as the criminal punishment system,” he said. “That process has a way of still not making everybody whole, victims are left out, the public is left out of that process, and it’s largely left to the DA’s office to drive those prosecutions.”

Teri Jacobs released her own statement on the situation:

“After being attacked by Portland Police Officer Corey Budworth on August 18, 2020, I was grateful for the opportunity to tell him directly how his actions have affected me and continue to affect me through the restorative justice process. Although it can’t change what happened to me that night, he admitted that his actions were wrong and pledged to do better himself, as well as facilitate changes in the PPB that would help prevent this type of police brutality from happening in the future.”

Around a dozen cases have gone through this process in the county over the past year.

Jacobs also filed a civil suit against the City of Portland over this same incident and received a $50,000 settlement.

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