• Jaysyn
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    921 year ago

    The arresting officer should be charged with Child Abuse.

    We must end Qualified Immunity.

    • Doug HollandOP
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      1 year ago

      No charges, of course. Dennis Turner was only fired, which means his ‘punishment’ was enduring orientation as a new hire at whatever police department pays him now.

          • Phanatik
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            121 year ago

            Often the civil lawsuits are about alleging that an officer committed a crime and a judge has to determine whether that’s the case. The officer is usually represented by a police union who usually invoke Qualified Immunity to absolve the officer i.e. there was probable cause for their actions.

              • Phanatik
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                51 year ago

                Admittedly, my legalese isn’t great. However, I wasn’t implying that the union itself represents the officer, just that they provide support in that aspect. I know it’s for all government officials, the focus here was on the police so I stuck with that.

                I agree on the last part. Often it feels like government officials are above the law.

                  • Chetzemoka
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                    1 year ago

                    You ABSOLUTELY can have a cop sued for making a minor mistake. They can carry malpractice insurance, just like I do. Don’t give me that shit. There is no reason cops should be immune from lawsuits

      • Doug HollandOP
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        51 year ago

        The responses and downvotes are making me chuckle. How dare you understand and explain what ‘qualified immunity’ is and how it works, to people who don’t.

          • Doug HollandOP
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            11 year ago

            Cops are rarely convicted of crimes (in my opinion) because cop crimes rarely come to court. Even when there’s prosecution, everyone — judge, jury, prosecutors, defense, witnesses, certainly any reporters — walks in with a background of respect and admiration for police. They watched Hawaii Five-O and all the iterations of Law & Order, and listened to hysterical Republicans screaming about crime, and watched channel 7’s coverage of cops heroically hunting for some axe murderer on the subway. Everyone comes to the courtroom eager to give cops the benefit of every doubt.

            It takes a truly egregious cop-crime and some sharp lawyering to get past the lifelong-ingrained “Cops are always the good guys” belief.

            And of course, ‘qualified immunity’ has nothing to do with anything in criminal court.