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 […]
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 […]
The use of handcuffs doesn’t necessarily turn a Terry Stop into a de facto arrest. The defendant and two other men were detained under a Terry Stop. The officers told the men they were not under arrest and did not Mirandize them. The officers then conducted a Terry Frisk and handcuffed the men during the […]
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 […]
This is a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action where the plaintiff alleged police officers violated his Fourth Amendment rights when they forcibly made a warrantless entry into his house to render medical assistance as a result of a 911 call. The plaintiff also alleged excessive use of force when the officers used pepper spray to gain […]
The use of a “rolling block” on a speeding motorcyclist results in a crash and death of the motorcyclist. The family sued for excessive use of force. The court granted qualified immunity to the officer because the plaintiff failed to identify a controlling precedent rendering it “beyond debate”—such that any reasonable officer would know, even […]