HERMISTON — Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston on Nov. 11 publicly aired his frustrations with the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office over its policy of requiring arresting officers to take suspects to the hospital prior to lodging them in jail if jail staff determine the suspect needs medical evaluation.
“Patrol officers are doing the job of jail staff and having to spend hours at the hospital in Pendleton to get people ‘medically cleared’ to go to jail,” Edmiston wrote. “Then in our case, I get to deal with collection notices for these unpaid bills from that hospital. These evaluations, if necessary, should be done by jail transport staff.”
Edmiston sent the email to area law enforcement officials, city and county officials and members of the media.
5-hour wait at Pendleton hospital
The issue played out on Nov. 10 when HPD officers arrested Fernando Abrahan Torres on suspicion of using a hammer to damage several vehicles at Tierra Linda Estates in Hermiston. Officers transported Torres just after noon to the county jail in Pendleton, but jail staff declined to admit him because he may have been high on marijuana and had “unstable vitals,” specifically an increased heart rate and tremors.
That resulted in a Hermiston officer taking Torres to St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton where they waited until 5:19 p.m. before medical staff cleared Torres and he could go to jail.
“This is not an isolated incident,” Edmiston said. “This is systematic throughout the many layers of the sheriff’s office.”
When Hermiston officers take a suspect to the hospital for a medical evaluation, the police department gets a collection notice for unpaid hospital bills resulting from the medical evaluation. Edmiston said he called the collection service to have it send the bills to the Umatilla County Jail, but that has gotten nowhere. The Hermiston Police Department, he said, does not pay those bills.
Area police chiefs show support for Edmiston
The Hermiston Herald reached out to other area law enforcement officials for their response to Edmiston’s Nov. 11 email.
Milton-Freewater Police Chief Joe Shurtz said his department has had similar experiences when trying to book a suspect into the jail.
“Milton-Freewater Police Department has experienced the same issues with Umatilla County Jail booking practices that Chief (Edmiston) described,” Shurtz said. “When the jail declines to book an arrestee who is under the influence or presents with unstable vital signs, or whatever the reason might be, an officer transports the person and can remain at the hospital for many hours awaiting clearance. Although we always have officers on duty to respond to calls, having one essentially out of service at the hospital puts a strain on our small department.”
Shurtz also said his department has been billed for taking a suspect to the hospital for a medical evalutation.
“We did not pay it,” he said.
Edmiston said his officers will sometimes take an arrestee to Good Shepherd Health Care System in Hermiston for a medical check. He said Good Shepherd does not bill HPD.
Timothy Addleman, police chief for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, said he could not respond to a request for comment without permission from the CTUIR communications director or executive director.
He did, however, reply to Edmiston’s Nov. 11 email by writing in an email response: “Well said and spot on Jason!”
HPD chief cites policy inconsistencies
In a separate email to the Hermiston Herald, Edmiston said among his frustrations is what he calls the inconsistency of the intake policy of the sheriff’s office. Sometimes a suspect will be jailed without medical clearance and other times arresting officers are told a suspect in a similar condition needs a medical evaluation first.
“The biggest issues come when it depends on which nurse might be working or which intake deputy is working,” Edmiston said. “It is never consistent and I’m still struggling with the reasoning (Nov. 10) as we were told unstable vitals and tremors. It is never an XYZ process, and their own staff often dictate their own interpretation of their policy versus following the written policy.”
Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan did not respond to a request for comment. But the sheriff’s office on Nov. 12 announced the jail received a 100% compliance rate from the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association for an Oct. 22 jail inspection, a first for the jail.
Rowan in April 2024 sent a letter to area law enforcement officials informing them of the jail’s intake policy.
“In summary, our policies and procedures require that our staff, along with our medical provider evaluate/screen every arrestee, to include an assessment of their medical condition to determine if they are in need of urgent medical care, and to determine if the arrestee is otherwise suitable for lodging,” according to Rowan. “This is designed to reduce liability for the jail, along with your risk, and risk to the arrestee.”
Doing what is reasonable
Edmiston said not every suspect who has an injury or medical condition needs medical care prior to being jailed.
“So much of what police do is based on what’s reasonable,” Edmiston said. “If someone gets in a 5-mile-per-hour crash, why do we need them to get medically cleared? Is that reasonable?”
In his letter to law enforcement officials, Rowan said arresting deputies and officers should not presume the Umatilla County Jail will take in all arrestees.
“Any arrestee brought to UCJ will remain in the arresting deputy’s/officer’s custody until accepted by jail staff,” Rowan wrote. “The evaluation/screening is not intended to unduly delay the acceptance of the arrestee or the arresting deputy/officer. Any information the arresting agency provides to UCJ staff prior to arriving at the jail may expedite the process. I also wanted to let you all know that our medical provider (MedTrust) has hired adequate staffing and has moved our medical coverage to a 24/7/365 model. This will help with performing medical assessments on arrestees at the time of lodging.”
Jail policy focuses on ‘urgent need’
Rowan told law enforcement officials in the April 2024 letter that MedTrust requires written medical clearance from either a doctor or a mid-level provider prior to lodging for persons experiencing an urgent need for medical care.
Rowan also said anyone who refuses medical care at a hospital will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
“At minimum, they should sign a waiver to indicate their refusal, and that they understand the consequences of their refusal,” Rowan wrote. “However, this does not guarantee their acceptance into UCJ. Our staff, along with our medical provider will make every effort to help the arresting agency work through the process, but again, we will work within the guidelines of our policies and procedures.”
Edmiston said having a Hermiston officers waiting for hours in a hospital for medical staff to evaluate a suspect has an adverse effect on the residents of Hermiston.
“Patrol officers for HPD should be on the street for the citizens of Hermiston, not tied up in a hospital 30 miles away for nearly five hours like (Nov. 10),” Edmiston said. “If the ER is busy, they’re not going to prioritize us and I get that.”
Edmiston said incidents where an officer transports a suspect to St. Anthony Hospital for a medical check happens about five times per month or about 60 times a year.
“That ebbs and flows with who you arrest and what they’re on,” he said.
‘Nothing changes’
In his email to police chiefs, government officials and the media, Edmiston said that despite “numerous complaints” from area agencies, the sheriff’s office has not resolved this issue.
“Instead, someone decides ‘let’s have a meeting,’” he said. “Meeting set, stakeholders attend, things get discussed, and nothing changes.”
Edmiston shared a letter he emailed in February 2026 to Rowan, the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners and Hermiston city officials addressing the issue.
“With budget preparation about to start, I again request medical evaluation transports be conducted by jail staff, not the arresting or transporting officer from the agencies within Umatilla County as their time could be better spent being proactive,” Edmiston wrote.
Edmiston said he received no response to his request.
“What I was really hoping for is someone to do the math and say we can do that and we will need to hire two more jail transport deputies at a cost of $XXX,XXX per year,” Edmiston said in an email to The Herald. “Then from there stakeholders could decide if we can contribute to that and make it happen. I think I could make a solid argument on my end for say $25,000 a year to relieve police officers of these burdens. But clearly there is and was no interest.”
Edmiston said if things do not change, he may decide on a case-by-case basis to have his officers “cite and release arrested people in the UCSO parking lot because we do not have the resources to spend hours at that hospital for a person with elevated blood pressure or under the influence of marijuana.”
Source: eastoregonian.com
