AP
The police officers who arrested a Black pastor while he watered his neighbor’s plants can be sued, a federal appeals court ruled Friday, reversing a lower court judge’s decision to dismiss the pastor’s lawsuit.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the three officers who arrested Michael Jennings in Childersburg, Alabama, lacked probable cause for the arrest and are therefore not shielded by qualified immunity.
Qualified immunity protects officers from civil liability while performing their duties as long as their actions don’t violate clearly established law or constitutional rights which they should have known about. More
About damn time!
This isn’t new. YouTube is filed with videos of the “blue line gang” doing this every day across the country. Demanding ID is like crack cocaine to a cop. If you don’t bow down and do exactly as you’re told they “detain you with handcuffs for your protection” at which time they hope you resist ever so slightly thereby giving them probable cause to arrest you for resisting arrest. It’s bullshit and a catch-22 but that’s the police state we live in today in the land of the free.
I understand the sentiment but, don’t paint with such a large brush.
I was good until the end. Emotional distress means pastor Mike sees a paycheck. As I believe police need to behave to a high standard I believe people who claim to be ‘of the cloth’ ought as well. Sniffing out a payday over minor misbehavior under color of authority is not a high standard.
Being a respectful guy I can say my interactions with LEO’s are for the most part satisfactory. Granted I’m a white guy, no criminal record, I’m usually asleep before 9:30. But here’s an example of what respect can do for you. This past Wednesday I was driving locally on a divided highway, approaching a construction zone, light rain. The lady ahead of me was slowing down, then speeding up, then slowing down again. I had to pass her, on a turn. Sure enough, State Trooper right there. Pulled me over. I was “yes sir, no sir”. He had me at 74 in 50 and he just gave me a warning. White privilege.
My inclination is that had Pastor Jennings been given a sincere apology this could have been settled with a handshake. They probably didn’t have it in them to man up and do that though.
The insanity of “qualifed immunity” should never have existed. It has no basis in the Constitution or prior common law and was Magiced into existence by politicians and crooked judges as a means of escaping accountability for their criminal misconduct.