A class-action suit can proceed against Multnomah County, ex-Sheriff Mike Reese and two former corrections supervisors alleging they failed to protect prisoners from tear gas that seeped into the county’s downtown Portland jail during 2020 protests, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman rejected the county’s motions to throw out the case and ruled that the county, Reese and the chief corrections deputy and jail commander at the time are not entitled to qualified immunity from potential liability.

Her 180-page opinion cites evidence that entire modules of prisoners were screaming, choking, yelling, coughing and begging for help, pounding on and kicking their doors as a thick fog of tear gas permeated the Multnomah County Detention Center night after night.

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