Qualified immunity doesn’t stand alone as a puzzling contradiction to American values
Scenario One: Police in a suburban town pursue a criminal suspect, who runs into the Bernstein family’s front yard, where Moishy and his friends are playing. The officers arrived with guns drawn, and order both the suspect and the children present to lie on the ground motionless. Just then, the neighbor’s dog saunters over unthreateningly to one of the sheriff’s deputies, who shoots at the animal but misses, then shoots again, this time unfortunately hitting a ten-year-old boy lying just 18 inches away.
The child suffers severe pain and mental trauma, and his parents file a $2 million lawsuit alleging violation of their child’s Fourth Amendment rights. Although a district court rules in their favor, a federal appeals court overturns that ruling and dismisses the case against the officer.
Scenario Two: The FBI raids the offices of two frum businessmen with a search warrant based on suspicion of Medicaid fraud. Upon completing the search, the agents provide the businessmen with a ledger stating that they’ve seized $50,000, but in reality the agents make off with $275, 000, amounting to a $225,000 theft. The businessmen are never charged with any crime, but a federal appeals court rules they cannot not sue the FBI agents for the theft, either.
Scenario Three: During an altercation with a female traffic cop on Boro Park’s Thirteenth Avenue over a double-parking ticket, the car’s owner, a 130-pound lady, stalks off, ignoring a command to “get back over here.” The officer pursues her, lifting her off the ground in a bear hug and throwing her to the ground, breaking her collarbone and knocking her unconscious. A federal appeals court rules she cannot sue the officer for assault.
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