A Cop Killed a Suicidal Man and Got Qualified Immunity. Justice Sotomayor Isn't Happy About It.
4 October 2021
reason.com
4 October 2021
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is reiterating her disdain for qualified immunity—a legal doctrine that protects certain government officials from accountability—decades after the high court legislated it into existence. In the Court's orders released Monday, Sotomayor objected to her colleagues' refusal to hear a plea brought by the family of a man killed by a police officer. The man "never threatened the officer," Sotomayor notes, and in that moment arguably presented a danger only to himself. The cop got qualified immunity anyway. "I add only that qualified immunity properly shields police officers from liability when they act reasonably to protect ...
A Cop Killed a Suicidal Man and Got Qualified Immunity. Justice Sotomayor Isn't Happy About It.
Qualified immunity "does not protect an officer who inflicts deadly force on a person who is only a threat to himself."
reason.com