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On Monday, a judge dismissed a $500,000 lawsuit filed by Don't Shoot PDX organizer Teressa Raiford against Portland on grounds that police singled her out and falsely arrested her during a 2015 protest.
The Oregonian first reported the dismissal this morning.
Raiford was arrested by five police officers at an August 2015 event she organized to honor the life of Michael Brown, the unarmed black man shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. She was charged with criminally obstructing traffic.
A jury acquitted Raiford in 2016 of the charge.
Raiford filed a lawsuit for damages in August 2017, saying she was signaled out for her outspokenness against police violence and claiming officers made disparaging comments as they arrested her.
Related: Don't Shoot Portland Activist Teressa Raiford Sues City for $500,000 Over Her Arrest at Protest
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Leslie Bottomly threw out Raiford's lawsuit on Monday, finding Portland police did have grounds to arrest Raiford for interfering with a police officer while she addressed a crowd near the intersection of Southeast 82nd and Division. Bottomly pointed to the indictment and a judge's ruling that Raiford could stand trial on the criminal charge, even though she was ultimately acquitted.
Raiford's attorney, Matthew McHenry, tells The Oregonian they plan to appeal the ruling. A civil trial is scheduled to start Monday.
Raiford and McHenry couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Cecelia Towner, the founder of Black Lives Matter in Vancouver, Wash., who was at the court for the hearing today, tells WW, "the justice system shouldn't be preventing justice from happening.
"All these rules are just technicalities, they don't actually serve justice," she says. "That's why we have the jail rates we do. I don't think it's over, and I'm thankful for that. It's important to appeal [Bottomly's ruling] so that we do get justice. Not just for Teressa Raiford, but for all of us."