Portland police employee lost job amid suspicions she tried to cover up husband’s crime. Now she’s suing the city.

A former Portland police administrative supervisor who was fired amid unproven accusations that she tried to use her position to put a damper on a manslaughter investigation against her husband filed a $31.5 million lawsuit Thursday against the Portland Police Bureau.

Karen Chirre, 54, claims she was defamed and wrongfully terminated based on false accusations of hindering prosecution, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. She ultimately was exonerated of all charges during the same week her husband was found not guilty of killing a man who set a small fire outside the couple’s West Burnside convenience store.

Karen Chirre’s Portland attorney, Robert R. Parker Jr., said police failed to do their research before firing his client.

“They just prematurely, arbitrarily jumped the gun, rushed to a conclusion and they were absolutely incorrect with their erroneous assumptions of her misconduct because she committed none,” Parker told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Friday.

The city attorney’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment, but the office typically doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Bruce and Karen Chirre’s troubles began in April 5, 2021, when authorities said a man, Jack Dekker, set a string of small, early morning fires in Northwest Portland and then ignited one in a trash can in front of the couple’s shop, the Stadium Superette.

Police became suspicious of Bruce Chirre when they interviewed him later that morning. He didn’t mention chasing Dekker across the street to Providence Park and punching him, records show. Police also noticed Bruce Chirre’s swollen hand and found a freshly bleached shower and shower curtain and clothing stashed in the bottom of a soda machine.

It wasn’t until March 2023, however, that Bruce Chirre was charged with crimes that could have sent him to prison for at least 10 years.

Karen Chirre, an unsworn police employee, was accused of visiting the police precinct where her husband was being held and accessing floors of the precinct to talk to a detective supervisor. She was fired in July 2023, according to the lawsuit. According to her LinkedIn profile, Chirre taught classes to sworn and non-sworn police employees and was responsible “for supervising a staff of administrative support personnel.”

During a trial this past March, a judge determined that Bruce Chirre punched Dekker but that he wasn’t responsible for Dekker’s death. An autopsy found Dekker, who was in his 50s, died from heart disease aggravated by methamphetamine use and a “physical altercation.”

Multnomah County Circuit Judge Steffan Alexander found Bruce Chirre not guilty of manslaughter and other charges but guilty of misdemeanor fourth-degree assault. The judge sentenced him to five days in jail.

The judge cleared Karen Chirre of all wrongdoing.

Last month, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission also voted unanimously to dismiss the pursuit of any ethics violations against her.

Commission employee Casey Fenstermaker told the commission that in finding Karen Chirre not guilty, the judge “made it abundantly clear that there was no evidence to support that Chirre had acted in her official capacity to either interfere in her or her husband’s prosecution or to obtain access to the precinct.”

The lawsuit claims Karen Chirre had a 28-year “unblemished” record of employment with the Police Bureau when the bureau initiated the process to fire her. Her name, the suit alleges, was dragged through the mud as the charges against her made news headlines.

The suit claims the bureau’s actions were “reprehensible,” “nefarious” and “deplorable.”

The lawsuit was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

— Aimee Green covers breaking news and the justice system. Reach her at 503-294-5119, agreen@oregonian.com or @o_aimee.

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