Michael J. Sgarlat 7/8/21 Michael J. Sgarlat 7/8/21

Eighth Circuit: Automobile Exception Applies to Temporarily Immobile Vehicles

On April 16, 2019, Des Moines police officers responded to various calls of gunshots fired at an apartment complex. The callers reported 3 potential suspects and 2 cars associated with those suspects. One caller described a suspect as a black male with dreadlocks in a white shirt and dark blue pants, a description fitting Shaun Short that evening. Callers also reported that one of the cars involved was a black Dodge Charger, the same make and model car owned by Short.

James P. Garay Heelan 7/1/21 James P. Garay Heelan 7/1/21

Supreme Court Rejects “Per Se” Rule For Excessive Force Analysis

Law enforcement cannot place a resisting person in a prone position regardless of other factors, the Supreme Court held this week. “Such a per se rule would contravene the careful, context-specific analysis” the Court requires.

Michael J. Sgarlat 3/11/21 Michael J. Sgarlat 3/11/21

Eighth Circuit: Officers Denied Qualified Immunity after Search of Entire Domicile Not Justified under Community Caretaker Exception

In the middle of the night, a drunk man in his 30s took a taxi from St. Louis to Ballwin, Missouri, asked the taxi driver to stop on the street near the home of Jon Luer and his wife, Andrea Steinebach, and exited the taxi without paying his $65 fare. The driver reported the fare skipper to the police at 2:38 am, and officers arrived on the scene 2:45 am.

Michael J. Sgarlat 1/7/21 Michael J. Sgarlat 1/7/21

Eighth Circuit Refuses to Extend Bivens to False Arrest by Deputized Federal Officer

Muna Abdulkadir was a witness for the government in a federal sex-trafficking case. In that case, thirty individuals were charged and detained as suspected participants in a sex-trafficking scheme. Of the thirty individuals, only nine were tried, and all were acquitted.

Michael J. Sgarlat 6/4/20 Michael J. Sgarlat 6/4/20

A Suspect’s Mere Possession of a Firearm Does Not Permit an Officer’s Use of Deadly Force

In October 2016, Little Rock, AR Police Officer Dennis Hutchins shot and killed Roy Lee Richards, Jr. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently found that Officer Hutchins’s shooting of Richards, who possessed a pellet gun, was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment, and denied Officer Hutchins qualified immunity.