A federal appeals court ruled in January that "qualified immunity" should not protect the officers from potential liability resulting from the death of Timpa, a man with mental illness who died after being restrained for nearly 14 minutes by the officers.
June 1, 2022
Johnny Wheatcroft and his family sued the city of Glendale, then-Officer Matthew Schneider and two other officers in 2018, claiming Schneider repeatedly used a TASER on Wheatcroft after he was handcuffed and detained following a traffic stop.
March 10, 2022
In his ruling, Senior U.S. District Judge Graham Mullen said Kerl probably made errors on the day of the shooting. But under the law, he said, they were reasonable ones, making her immune to the claims in the lawsuit.
November 19, 2021
The court overturned the lower-court decisions without ordering full briefing and argument, a sign it did not see them as close calls. There were no dissents.
October 19, 2021
Among the issues that lawmakers were discussing were changes to "qualified immunity" that protects police officers from some lawsuits.
September 22, 2021
Gov. Gavin Newsom now has 12 days to sign or veto the bill, which passed the California Assembly with a vote of 46 to 18 on Friday. It was previously passed in the state Senate on May 26 with a vote of 26 to 9.
September 6, 2021
It is unclear if a police reform proposal without changes to qualified immunity could pass the House, where progressive Democrats like Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), a former Black Lives Matter activist, have called the removal of qualified immunity a redline.
August 18, 2021
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would ban chokeholds, require that deadly force only be used as a last resort in arrests, and effectively end qualified immunity.
April 21, 2021
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) signed a bill Wednesday ending qualified immunity for all government workers, including police. New Mexico is the first state to end qualified immunity for all public employees.
April 8, 2021
The qualified immunity doctrine is used in state and federal court, so it's unclear how a city can revoke the potential protection it provides to officers.
March 30, 2021
The bill would ban all neck restraints, including chokeholds and the kind used on Floyd as well as no-knock warrants in drug cases. It would also end the application of the doctrine of qualified immunity for law enforcement officers.
March 3, 2021
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and former Rep. Justin Amash, a Libertarian from Michigan, first introduced the legislation last year in the wake of anti-police protests and riots following the in-custody death of George Floyd.
March 3, 2021
The bill also raises the cap for damages paid to victims and allows jurisdictions to revoke an officer's pension.
February 16, 2021
The legislation, which would have prohibited an officer from using sovereign or qualified immunity as a defense in court, was set aside to be studied by the Virginia Crime Commission.
February 3, 2021
“We are now united in a coalition that is resolved to end this get-out-of-jail free card for bad cops,” Ben Cohen told reporters during the briefing. “It is now time to shift from protest to policy.”
January 27, 2021
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