The family of a father of eight who was shot dead on a downtown Portland street during a disagreement with an infuriated Uber driver filed a $40 million lawsuit Thursday against Multnomah County, Uber and the Uber driver who is now serving a life sentence in prison.
The estate of Ryan Martin, who was 47 when he died, faults the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office for giving the Uber driver, Geoffrey Hammond, a concealed handgun license in 2021 despite what it describes as a concerning history of arrests and one conviction.
Roughly two years later, in October 2023, Hammond was parked several feet from the curb in rush-hour traffic outside the Moxy Hotel when, in a tense exchange, Martin got out of his car and asked Hammond to move. Seconds later, Hammond fatally shot Martin in the chest and then shot a bystander, who was photographing the exchange with his cellphone. Both Martin and the bystander were unarmed…