How the Supreme Court Enables Police Excessive Force
In this edition of his Section 1983 Litigation column, Martin A. Schwartz writes: The Supreme Court's jurisprudence is so heavily tilted in favor of police officers and municipalities sued under §1983 that excessive force claimants often do not have a realistic chance of recovery.
June 05, 2020 at 12:30 PM
15 minute read
The tragic killing of African American George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin placed in focus serious deficiencies in §1983 excessive force law. The Supreme Court's jurisprudence is so heavily tilted in favor of police officers and municipalities sued under §1983 that excessive force claimants often do not have a realistic chance of recovery.
Chauvin killed Floyd by placing his knee on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes. Floyd was suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill to pay for cigarettes. A videotape shows that Floyd was not resisting and presented no threat to Chauvin. Three other officers at the scene failed to intervene to protect Floyd from Chauvin's infliction of deadly force. The incident sparked nationwide protests of police uses of deadly force and racism in law enforcement and criminal justice systems. All four officers were fired. The state filed homicide charges against Chauvin and aiding and abetting charges against the other three officers.
This was not an isolated incident. The senseless killing of George Floyd evoked memories of other unjustified police uses of deadly force: Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.; Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Md.; and Eric Garner and Amadu Dialo in New York City. A police officer choked Eric Garner to death even though he was suspected only of selling loose cigarettes. Four police officers fired 41 shots killing Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old immigrant with no criminal record whom the police thought had a gun but in fact was unarmed.
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