Welcome to the Campaign to End Qualified Immunity’s weekly wrap-up for 1/24–1/28! Here, we highlight the week’s updates and notable news as we continue our state-focused fight to abolish the unjust rule.
This week, a mother and activist calls for police accountability; New York State Senator Robert Jackson slams qualified immunity; a major advocacy group endorses Vermont’s public safety bill; and more!
FEATURED STORY
USA Today: A Rookie Cop Mistook My Sons for Gang Members and Searched Them at Gunpoint. Where’s Our Justice?
Cassi Pollreis: “My boys were taught that the police officers who protect and serve our communities are to be respected and trusted. That trust was destroyed…when they were stopped at gunpoint, forced to lie on the ground, handcuffed and searched.”
Read more here.
NEW YORK
State Senator Robert Jackson, sponsor of S 1991, the bill that would repeal qualified immunity in New York, penned an op-ed slamming the unjust rule. “The battle to end qualified immunity can’t wait,” he says. “Too many Black and Brown families continue to suffer without any path for justice or retribution because of this obscure legal doctrine.”
Read more here.
The Legal Aid Society and other New York City community groups have released a joint statement criticizing Mayor Eric Adams’ remarks on gun violence. “Reinstating the NYPD’s Anti-Crime Unit without also addressing the culture and policies that drove that unit’s decades-long pattern of harassment and violence targeting Black and brown New Yorkers is a mistake,” they note.
Read more here.
VERMONT
The Vermont Public Interest Research Group, the largest nonprofit consumer and environmental advocacy organization in the state, wholeheartedly endorses public safety bill S.254, calling it a “common-sense reform” that should “build trust in our communities by ending the double-standard of qualified immunity for law enforcement officers.”
Read more here.
Vermont attorney Anthony Iarrapino voices his support for S.254. Iarrapino, who sits on the ACLU of Vermont board, says “It is long past time to ensure that police officers are accountable to the people they are supposed to protect and serve and to the Constitution they swear an oath to uphold.”
Read more here.
WASHINGTON
HB 1202, the Peace Officer Accountability Act, “promotes public safety by motivating police departments across the state to align their policies and training with state laws and the constitution.” Learn more about HB 1202 by downloading this useful fact sheet from the ACLU of Washington.
In September 2020, corrupt Seattle officer Brian Maxey left the force due to his shameful involvement in a Proud Boys hoax meant to disrupt racial justice protests. But instead of facing accountability, the rogue cop was recently rehired by the Seattle Police Department.
Read more here.
MARYLAND
Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh’s decision to grant qualified immunity to a rogue cop who arrested a resident for filming him at a protest has drawn harsh criticism from legal experts. “Not only is that utterly indefensible as a matter of law,” states lawyer Cary J. Hansel III, “but it is contrary to [Frosh’s] professed love of the Constitution and civil rights.”
Read more here.
“Last year, I had the pleasure of working alongside our state legislature to pass…landmark legislation in the country,” says Prince George’s County State Attorney Aisha Braveboy, who played a key role in getting rid of the controversial Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights in Maryland. She discusses this and other substantial reforms she helped shape on the Black News Channel.
Watch here.
ADDITIONAL NEWS
The Root: Chance Lynch, One of Andrew Brown Jr.’s Lawyers, Says There’s Only One Real Weapon to Fight Police Killing: End Qualified Immunity
“But here’s what we are doing to fight [qualified immunity]: We try to find case laws that are clearly established or create case laws or advocate for laws to be in place that are clearly defined, so [rogue cops] can’t claim qualified immunity.”
Read more here.
PBS Newshour: How the Trial of 3 Officers Accused of Depriving George Floyd of His Civil Rights Could Change Police Accountability
“Depending on the outcome, the case could have major ramifications for how police officers are expected to intervene when another officer is violating a person’s rights, [law professor Christy] Lopez said.”
Read more here.
Institute for Justice: 50 Shades of Governmental Immunity
“This study, which grades states based on the ease of bringing civil rights claims under state law, is a call for lawmakers to do better. It is also a resource for reporters, lawyers, and people in general.”
Read more here.
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