25 results for 'cat:"Civil Rights" AND cat:"Constitution" AND cat:"Police Misconduct"'.
J. Flanagan partially denies a police officer and municipality their motion to dismiss allegations of Fourth Amendment violations brought by a resident whom the officer grabbed in an attempt to pull her out of her home. The officer, standing just outside the threshold of the resident’s front door, repeatedly ordered her to step outside, twice grabbing her arm in an attempt to pull her outside although he had no warrant. His argument of suspicion is also insufficient, and, thus, he cannot use official immunity as a defense and neither can the city as his employer.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Flanagan, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv207, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Doughty denies a request by a parish governing body to dismiss claims of vicarious liability for deliberate indifference to the medical needs of a pre-trial detainee, a former California resident who was moving cross-country in a U-Haul truck with a hired helper when the two men were arrested and jailed on narcotics allegations that were later dismissed. After a jail nurse recorded a high blood pressure rate requiring hospitalization, the litigant requested medical attention; however, he was allegedly strip-searched and placed in a holding cell for hours and ignored. The day of his release from jail, he allegedly collapsed in a hotel hallway from a stroke.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Doughty, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv899, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Conley partially grants motions for summary judgment in the citizen's lawsuit against the police officers claiming unlawful search and seizure, illegal use of force, racial discrimination and other charges in connection with a traffic stop in which the citizen, who is Black and was on probation at the time, was pulled over after leaving a hotel known for illegal drug activity and had his car and hotel room searched, leading to drug and weapon possession charges against him. In part because genuine disputes of fact exist regarding whether the officer who originally pulled the citizen over had reasonable suspicion he had done anything illegal, that officer's motion for summary judgment is denied. Three other officers are granted summary judgment because they are entitled to qualified immunity, and two more officers are also awarded summary judgment because they were not involved enough in the citizen's claims.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv65, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Gibney grants the deputy's motion for judgment on unlawful arrest and illegal detention claims. Two brothers walked on a road near a courthouse when a police officer noticed them and approached them. The brothers, who were recording video at the time, told the officer that they were within their rights to be on the road filming and even went as far as telling the cop that as long as he did not violated their rights they would not hurt them. The officer had probable cause to arrest the pair because walking on the roadway is illegal.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Virginia, Judge: Gibney , Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv575, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Shah partially grants the Cook County sheriff’s motion to dismiss civil rights claims brought by a man who is a former county arrestee. Deputies arrested the man while he was on pre-trial release in another case, without a warrant or court order, after they decided he had strayed from his court-ordered electric monitoring area. He ended up serving two years in jail, and now brings charges against the sheriff’s office for Fourth and 14th Amendment violations. The court finds he has not sufficiently alleged his 14th Amendment claims, but his Fourth Amendment claims against unlawful seizure stand.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Shah, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1782, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
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J. Stewart finds the district court properly entered summary judgment in favor of the police officers. Armed protesters opposed to a city ordinance preventing unauthorized firearm carry were arrested after aggressively refusing to comply with officers' lawful orders. Though a Taser was used, causing one of the subjects to fall and hit his head, the officers are entitled to qualified immunity. The protesters have pointed to no clearly established law showing excessive force was used. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Stewart , Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 22-50915, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Pulliam dismisses most claims in a lawsuit brought by a citizen against San Antonio and several police officers after the citizen was shot multiple times with sponge rounds during George Floyd protests in 2020. While the citizen’s claims overall do not survive qualified immunity, and he has “abandoned” some of them by failing to brief them, he can bring excessive force claims against the officer who shot him twice. Video footage of the scene “does not unambiguously support” the officer’s explanation for why he fired a second time, and the San Antonio Complaint and
Administrative Review Board found the citizen’s allegations about the second shot are “justified.”
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Pulliam, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 5:21cv837, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Gettleman partially grants an Illinois village and its mayor’s motions to dismiss numerous civil rights allegations brought by a community activist. The activist claims the mayor had a personal vendetta against her after she led protests over the police killing of a community member, and that the mayor also took steps to chill village residents’ free speech rights — up to and including deploying police in riot gear on peaceful protestors. The court dismisses the activist’s claim that the village violated the first six articles of the Illinois Constitution, and also dismisses the possibility of Monell damages against the mayor specifically. The rest of the activist’s claims stand.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Gettleman, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv5670, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Smith finds the district court properly granted the police officers' motion to dismiss a mother's excessive force claims arising from the death of her son, who was killed after leading officers on a high-speed chase, then exiting his vehicle with a gun in his hands. Though the officers fired 19 times, hitting the deceased party 16 times, the use of force was justified. Body cam shows the deceased party exiting his vehicle with a gun and pointing it at one of the officers. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 22-11210, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Joseph grants a request by the city of Shreveport, dismissing all federal civil rights claims by the adult children of a 72-year-old detainee who died 17 days after being beaten in the local jail by an arrestee with a history of violence. While prison officials have a constitutional duty to protect inmates from violence at the hands of other prisoners, the decedent’s children fail to allege sufficient facts that local police and jailers acted in accord with a city policy, practice, or custom that resulted in their father’s death.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: December 5, 2023, Case #: 5:23cv689, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Peterson finds for the county, city and police officers in a lawsuit from the estate of a man one of the officers shot and killed after he and another officer tased him during a violent struggle upon finding the man naked and acting bizarrely subsequent to crashing his car into a snowbank. The officers actions can be reasonably justified given the circumstances, so the officers and municipalities are granted summary judgment on the estate's Fourth Amendment claims pertaining to the man's detention and the officers tasing and shooting him. The estate's claims referencing municipal liability and federal disability statutes also fail, as it has not shown the man's death was caused by any inadequate municipal policies for dealing with those in a mental health crisis or a failure to accommodate the man's disabilities, so the municipalities are granted summary judgment on those claims as well.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv102, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Moses grants summary judgment for several officers who were sued by an arrested man following a report of a suspicious vehicle at an abandoned property. The man, who arrested in the vehicle and ultimately charged with driving while intoxicated, was later determined to have had permission to be on the property. The man argued that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated, but he had “parked in an ‘open field’ rather than parking his truck within the house’s curtilage” and therefore did not have the same Fourth Amendment rights as if he had been fully within private property.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Moses, Filed On: October 2, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv4, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Jackson denies summary judgment to an eastern Louisiana police department and a parish sheriff’s office on state-law claims filed on behalf of the minor child of a car passenger shot to death by two lawmen, during a traffic stop for a failed license plate light. The same video evidence that creates a genuine dispute regarding the constitutional excessive force claim against the police officer and the sheriff’s deputy also establishes a genuine dispute as to these claims to state-law claims excessive force, assault and battery.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv221, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
[Consolidated.] J. DeGravelles denies requests by the city and several police officers to dismiss negligence claims by a protester they arrested during a demonstration against the police killing of Alton Sterling in 2017. The lasting impact of the woman’s unlawful arrest is significant. As a licensed professional, she was required to notify licensing agencies about a pending felony charge for “inciting a riot” for the years between her arrest and the expiration date for her prosecution. Also, she says she "has not wanted to protest and has a heightened sense of distrust and fear.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 3:17cv179, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
Per curiam, the Fifth Circuit finds the district court properly found in favor of the City of Yoakum police officers in this suit alleging false arrest and excessive force. The party claiming civil rights violations was arrested for public intoxication and resisting arrest after officers were called to a family gathering where cousins were involved in an unspecified altercation. The officers are entitled to qualified immunity on all parts of the analysis, particularly as no Fourth Amendment violation was proven, and no injury was shown in order to prove excessive force. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: August 2, 2023, Case #: 22-40719, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Peterson finds for the county and sheriff's deputies in a lawsuit from a citizen claiming he was arrested with excessive force and without probable cause while recording with his phone the aftermath of a car accident on the highway in front of his house. While it's a close call, the deputies could be reasonably said to have probable cause to arrest the citizen for disorderly conduct or obstructing their investigation based on his behavior, including getting into angry interactions with and getting in the way of the deputies and a tow truck driver at the scene of the accident. Despite the citizen's claims that he could not breathe while officers briefly pinned him to the ground and handcuffed him after he resisted arrest, the deputies used reasonable force when arresting him. The deputies are entitled to qualified immunity, the citizen's false arrest and excessive force claims fail, and the county and deputies' motion for summary judgment is granted.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: July 19, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv121, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Peterson finds for the city and police detective in a citizen's lawsuit claiming he was falsely arrested without probable cause after an incident in which a woman he claims pressured him to have sex with her demanded he pay her for it, forced him to drive to an ATM at knifepoint and stabbed him when he tried to run away in a gas station parking lot. Though the two subjects' stories differed on key details, the detective made reasonable judgments about the credibility of the citizen and the woman when he arrived at the violent scene at the gas station and ultimately arrested the woman for armed robbery and other charges and arrested the citizen on a prostitution charge, particularly given the woman's self-incriminating statements establishing that the citizen had paid her for sex. Because the detective is shielded by qualified immunity, summary judgment is granted to him and the city and the case is closed.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv817, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Faber grants the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department’s motion for summary judgment in a woman’s civil rights lawsuit claiming a deputy used excessive force when he placed handcuffs on her too tight while transporting her from jail to court for an appeal hearing on her misdemeanor conviction for domestic battery. The court finds the deputy is entitled to qualified immunity since the “court has not located nor have the parties pointed to a single case that would have put [the deputy] on notice that his refusal to loosen Pennington’s handcuff would violate her
constitutional rights.”
Court: USDC Southern District of West Virginia, Judge: Faber, Filed On: May 23, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv335, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct
J. Bennett denies a group of police officers its motion to dismiss or for summary judgment on allegations that the officers falsely arrested a Black male motorist and violated his Fourth Amendment rights, only pulling him over because they racially profiled him. They held him for over an hour and searched him and his car themselves and with dogs, then let him go with a verbal warning. Nothing further can be determined until discovery.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Bennett, Filed On: May 5, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv782, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, police Misconduct