On July 27, 2022, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Webster v. Westlake[i], which serves as an excellent review of when the court will deny qualified immunity for officers in a false arrest claim.  The relevant facts of Webster are as follows: School officials contacted the Iowa Department of Human Services after a school nurse found marks, abrasions, and bruising on seven-year-old L.B.'s legs. L.B. explained that her father, Robert Rushing, caused the injuries when he disciplined her with a belt after she got in trouble at school. L.B. said that her mother, Trenisha Webster, is usually in charge [...]

On July 25, 2022, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided the United States v. Daniels[i], which serves as instructive regarding when a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy in a rental vehicle.  The relevant facts of Daniels are as follows: Derrick Daniels had multiple outstanding arrest warrants, and police were actively searching for him. So they obtained search warrants to track him using his cell-phone location data. After using that data to find him, officers saw Daniels driving a gray Dodge Charger with a Florida license tag. Running the license plate on the vehicle revealed that the Charger [...]

On July 22, 2022, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Jarvela v. Washtenaw Cnty[i], which serves as instructive regarding when warnings are required when using a police canine to track a suspect.  The relevant facts of Jarvela are as follows: One night in August 2017, Cory Jarvela drank a half-dozen rum-and-cokes in his home near Clinton, Michigan, a small town about 20 miles southwest of Ann Arbor. Around 1 a.m., he drove his Chevy Silverado to a Shell station to buy cigarettes. Afterward, the store clerk called the police to report that "a drunk guy" wearing a white t-shirt [...]

On June 23, 2022, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decided the United States v. Hawkins[i], which serves as an excellent review of the law related to reasonable suspicion and the use of technology in developing reasonable suspicion. The relevant facts of White are as follows: On October 20, 2019, at approximately 8:51 p.m., officers of the New York City Police Department received a ShotSpotter report of a gunshot fired from the roof level of a building on Reverend James A. Polite Avenue in the Bronx. Officers Stephen Bonczyk and Cynthia Lopez were the first to respond and arrived on [...]

On June 15, 2022, the Court of Appeals of Georgia decided Williams v. State[i], in which the court considered whether the defendant was temporarily detained or subjected to a de facto arrest when officers removed him from a vehicle at gunpoint and handcuffed during a felony stop. The relevant facts of Williams are as follows: In January 2019, at approximately 1:34 a.m., an officer from the Douglasville Police Department was patrolling on I-20 East when he received a stolen tag notification from his vehicle's automated license plate reader. The alert came as three vehicles, seemingly traveling closely together, passed the [...]

On June 17, 2022, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decided White v. City of Detroit[i], in which the court considered whether an officer violated the Fourth Amendment when she shot and killed a pit-bull that was attacking her police canine.  The relevant facts of White are as follows: In the early afternoon of August 3, 2020, Detroit police officers apprehended a fleeing suspect who had run across several yards. One of those yards belonged to Rosemary White. Believing that the suspect had disposed of a weapon nearby, officers called in a canine unit to search for it. Bodycam and security [...]