The plaintiff in this 1983 civil suit (Lane) was a parolee who violated the terms of his parole by staying in a hotel in Fort Smith, Arkansas. His parole officer asked for LEO assistance and then went to the hotel to find Lane. They obtained the help from a hotel worker and went into Lane’s […]
A principal of a school calls 911 and reports gunshots coming from the direction of nearby woods. Two deputies arrive at a rest area 150 yards from the school to find a person there (Clark) talking on his phone. Clark voluntarily gave the officers his driver’s license, retired military ID, and concealed carry permit. When […]
An Arkansas Trooper pulled over a van for a traffic infraction. As he was talking to the driver, another car drove by and a person in the car (Thurairajah) yelled “F**k You” to the officer. The officer then terminated the traffic stop and pulled over and arrested Thurairajah for violating Arkansas’ disorderly conduct statute. Charges […]
This is another 42 USC 1983 civil suit for excessive use of force. In this case, the 8th Circuit denied Qualified Immunity to a tall and physically fit LEO who body-slammed a short and fat drunk woman while arresting her for non-violent misdemeanors stemming from a complaint made by the person with whom she lived. […]
This case is about whether an officer should be granted qualified immunity in a 42 USC 1983 civil suit alleging excessive use of force when a SWAT-trained Maine State Trooper shot an killed an armed civilian after a prolonged standoff. Citing Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989) and Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 […]
It was a warm, muggy summer night in Tupelo, Mississippi, when Officer Senter saw a car he believed was involved in narcotics activities. The officer pulled the car over when he noticed the car had a non-functional tag light and failed to indicate at a turn. Once stopped, the driver of the car (Shumpert) fled on […]
A domestic altercation between a man and his wife who were both drunk resulted in a 911 call to the police by the wife. Deputies respond and entered the house with the consent of the wife. During the encounter, the husband tried to move to the kitchen and a deputy attempted to stop him, first […]
This case is a civil suit under 42 USC 1983 for the excessive use of force by a police officer when he tased the plaintiff four times in rapid succession. In a set of facts eerily similar to Graham v. Connor, the plaintiff was suffering from diabetic shock while driving and was pulled over by […]
This is another 42 USC 1983 case for Fourth Amendment violations including False Arrest and Excessive Use of Force. Responding to a call that two teenagers were unlawfully in a neighbor’s house, the police responded to the home of one of the offending teenagers at 2:00 AM. The officers demanded to the teen’s mother (the […]
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order denying qualified immunity on summary judgment to an IRS Supervisory Special Agent in an action alleging that the agent violated plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment right to bodily privacy when, during the lawful execution of a search warrant at plaintiff’s home, the agent escorted plaintiff to the bathroom and monitored […]