7 ms·

A black friend of mine did exactly this, asked for a permission to get a pen from his pocket. The cop laughed “sure” and the moment he put his hand inside his p

• altcognito 6mo ago
  With body cameras this is a lawsuit.
  • ceejayoz 6mo ago
    But is it a winning one? Qualified immunity tends to chime in.
    • coryrc 6mo ago
      That doesn't mean what you think it means.
      • ceejayoz 6mo ago
        No? Jessop v. City of Fresno is worth a peek. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/17-16756/17-16756-2019-09-04.html https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/17... > The panel held that at the time of the incident, there was no clearly established law holding that officers violate the Fourth or Fourteenth Amendment when they steal property seized pursuant to a warrant. For that reason, the City Officers were entitled to qualified immunity.
        • giantg2 6mo ago
          That's not exactly consistent with the given scenario. Use of force issues tend to have much better case law at both the federal and state levels than property related issues.
          • ceejayoz 6mo ago
            https://www.generalservices.state.nm.us/wp-content/uploads/9_18_20_Qualified-Immunity-Cases.pdf https://www.generalservices.state.nm.us/wp-content/uploads/9... > Corbitt v. Vickers, 929 F.3d 1304 (11th Cir. 2019): Qualified immunity granted for officer who, hunting a fugitive, ended up at the wrong house and forced six children, including two children under the age of three, to lie on the ground at gunpoint. The officer tried to shoot the family dog, but missed and shot a 10-year-old child that was lying face down, 18 inches away from the officer. The court held that there was no prior case where an officer accidentally shot a child laying on the ground while the officer was aiming at a dog. > Young v. Borders, 850 F.3d 1274 (11th Cir. 2017): Qualified immunity granted to officers who, without a warrant, started banging on an innocent man’s door without announcing themselves in the middle of the night. When the man opened the door holding his lawfully-owned handgun, officers opened fire, killing. One dissenting judge wrote that if these actions are permitted, “then the Second and Fourth Amendments are having a very bad day in this circuit.” > Estate of Smart v. City of Wichita, 951 F.3d 1161 (10th Cir. 2020): Qualified immunity granted for officer who heard gunshots and fired into a crowd of hundreds of people in downtown Wichita, shooting bystanders and killing an unarmed man who was trying to flee the area. The court held that the shooting was unconstitutional but there was no clearly established law that police officers could not “open fire on a fleeing person they (perhaps unreasonably) believed was armed in what they believed to be an active shooter situation.” (And a bunch of others.) And a matching case has to be very specific: > Baxter v. Bracey, 751 F. App’x 869 (6th Cir. 2018): Qualified immunity granted for officers who sent a police dog to attack a man who had already surrendered and was sitting on the ground with his hands in the air. The court held that a prior case holding it unconstitutional to send a police dog after a person who surrendered by laying on the ground was not sufficiently similar to this case, involving a person who surrendered by sitting on the ground with his hands up. "No clearly established law", my ass.
            • giantg2 6mo ago
              What was the outcome of the lawsuits against the agencies? You don't have to win a suit against an individual. Most of the big payouts have to come from the cities. Here are a bunch going the other way. https://policefundingdatabase.org/explore-the-database/settlements/?settlements=&settlement-location=&settlement-comp=true#settlements-table https://policefundingdatabase.org/explore-the-database/settl... I never said that qualified immunity wasn't an issue, just that there tends to be more protections when use of force is involved than with property.
        • qingcharles 6mo ago
          And handed down in only one circuit, so the other 80% of cops in the country can say "well, in my circuit there was no established case law that said stealing the property was a constitutional violation."
        • coryrc 6mo ago
          The city can still be liable, it's not as if there's no redress.
      • tsimionescu 6mo ago
        Yeah, the "qualified" part is relatively misleading, it makes it sound like there are clear limits to police immunity.