Congratulations to DP&S attorney, Shelby White, who won another qualified immunity appeal to the Fifth Circuit. The appeal was by two police officers who used excessive force to remove and arrest a student at a high school basketball game. The trial court denied the officers’ claim of qualified immunity because of material fact disputes between the officers’ and student’s version of events. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the trial court’s ruling, finding that video of the incident did not conclusively establish that the officers’ use of force was reasonable, and that the law clearly prohibited use of the level of force against a teenager who was “not committing a crime, not a threat to others, and not resisting or attempting to flee the police.” You can read the opinion here.
