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.
What does the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Thompson v Clark mean for you.
On Monday, the Supreme Court sided 6-to-3 with Thompson in declaring that he did not have to show an "affirmative indication of innocence."
Two of the three troopers petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal. The National Fraternal Order of Police and the Maine State Police Association filed briefs in their support. Now that the court has denied that petition, the case will return to the federal court in Maine, possibly for a trial on the central claims of the lawsuit.
The Supreme Court recently ruled on a New Mexico case that established when a use of force constitutes a Fourth Amendment seizure.
While Cady recognized that police perform “many civil tasks” in modern society, the “recognition that these tasks exist” is not “an open-ended license to perform them anywhere,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion.
The lower courts ruled that police could enter the home and under the so-called the community care-taking exception to the Constitution's warrant requirement. Representing Edward Caniglia, lawyer Shay Dvoretzky said that an exception like that would "eviscerate" the warrant protections of the Fourth Amendment.
The court determined that in order to sue for excessive force under the Fourth Amendment, it is not necessary for a plaintiff to have been physically seized by law enforcement.
The Supreme Court passed up at least seven cases Monday that would have allowed it to reconsider aspects of qualified immunity for police.
The Supreme Court said in an 8-1 decision that unless there's reason to believe otherwise, it's common sense for an officer to think the car's owner will be driving.
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