Officers entitled to Qualified Immunity on 4th Amendment Claim Regarding Shooting of Mentally Impaired, Violent and Armed Subject-Law Not Clearly Established as to Whether an Officer Must Consider Disability before making 4th Amendment Entry In City and County of San Francisco v. Sheehan, the United States Supreme Court reviewed an officer-involved shooting that occurred in San Francisco. [i] The Court outlined the facts as follows: In August 2008, Sheehan lived in a group home for people dealing with mental illness. Although she shared common areas of the building with others, she had a pri­vate room. On August 7, Heath Hodge, [...]

On April 15, 2015, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided Mobley v. Palm Beach Sheriff Dept. et al. [i], which serves as an excellent review of the law pertaining to the Fourth Amendment and the use of force.  The relevant facts of Mobley, taken directly from the case, are as follows: On December 12, 2007, Mobley was parked in a West Palm Beach convenience store parking lot, slouched down in the driver's seat of his truck, preparing to smoke crack cocaine. In response to "complaints of high volumes of drug activity" in the area, Deputy Sheriff Jason Bronson of the Palm Beach [...]

On September 5, 2014, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decided the Aipperspach v. McInerney et al [i], in which they upheld as reasonable the shooting of a man with a BB gun and held that a news helicopter’s video of the incident did not provide the perspective of officers on the scene. The relevant facts of Aipperspach, taken directly from the case, are as follows: This tragic incident began when William Hart called the Riverside Police Department on March 18, 2010, reporting that a friend, Al-Hakim, refused to leave Hart's apartment. Detective Billy Aaron and Captain Michael Costanzo were dispatched to Hart's [...]

On January 5th, 2015, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided the United States v. Webster [i], which answers the question of whether suspects have a reasonable expectation of privacy regarding conversations in the caged area of a patrol vehicle. In Webster, on or about March 11, 2011, officers went to a residence in South Bend, Indiana in response to an anonymous tip.  As officers approached the house they heard a door shut on the side of the house.  Officers went to that area and found Webster as he exited the house.  He smelled of marijuana and there was an odor of marijuana [...]

n Rodriguez v. United States, the United States Supreme Court examined a traffic stop that was followed by the officer asking for consent to walk his dog around the vehicle.  When the consent was refused, the officer held the motorist until a backup officer arrived.  The K-9 was then walked around the vehicle and alerted to drugs.  Rodriguez sought the suppression of the drugs. The Court described the facts and history of the case as follows: Just after midnight on March 27, 2012, police officer Morgan Struble observed a Mercury Mountaineer veer slowly onto the shoulder of Nebraska State Highway 275 for [...]

On March 25, 2015, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided the United States v. White [i], in which they decided the issue of whether a warrantless, non-consensual search of a parolee on a condition of parole is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.  The relevant facts of White, taken directly from the case, are as follows: The Illinois Department of Corrections issued a warrant on March 29, 2011 to arrest White for violating his parole. The warrant was based on two discoveries. First, one of two victims from a shooting a week earlier had identified White as the shooter. Second, earlier that month [...]