LIFE ON THE STREETS

No deal for homeless woman

By Noah Bruce

The city of Portland has refused to settle a lawsuit with Bette Thompson, the homeless woman who claims she was sexually assaulted at the city-owned Oxford Street Shelter back in July of 2000 (see http://www.portlandphoenix.com/archive/features/01/03/02/homeless.html), says city attorney Gary Wood.

Apparently, Thompson’s lawyer, David Marchese, did not feel Thompson had a good shot of winning the case in front of a jury because he has dropped her as a client. When Marchese was interviewed by the Phoenix in March of this year, he stated that the real reason for the lawsuit was not money but “to prevent this from happening to someone else.”

Marchese now says, “We got something done. My understanding is they made some changes at the Oxford Street Shelter.” However, aside from confirming that Thompson is no longer his client, he would not comment further on the matter.

Marchese did not specify what changes had been made at the shelter, and director of social services Bob Duranleau, who oversees Oxford Street, did not return a phone call seeking information about changes at the shelter. However, as long as space constraints do not become a problem, it appears unlikely that the situation that led to the Thompson incident will be repeated. According to statements made by Duranleau in March, the shelter had not changed its policies, but Thompson was placed in the Milestone Room (for intoxicated clients) with a male client due to space constraints caused by construction at the time. Hopefully, if space once again becomes an issue, the administration will find a way to keep women and men separated, especially in the Milestone Room.

Meanwhile, according to Lieutenant Joseph Loughlin of the Portland Police Department, Emanuel Daviega, the man accused of sexually assaulting Thomspon, recently skipped bail in Boston. Daviega was arrested in Boston in March and was awaiting extradition to Portland when a judge made the poor decision to grant Daviega — who is homeless and therefore has no obvious reason to stick around — bail.