Welcome to the weekly update from the Campaign to End Qualified Immunity! Here, we give you a wrap-up of the latest developments and notable news as we continue our state-focused fight to abolish the unjust rule.
This week, new details emerge regarding Jayland Walker’s death; the Justice Department launches an investigation into the NYPD; the Institute for Justice fights qualified immunity in New Hampshire; and more!
FEATURED STORY
Al Jazeera: Ohio Police Release Footage Showing Shooting of Jayland Walker
“Roderick Pounds Sr, the pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Akron, said he had also been permitted to view body camera footage of the killing prior to its public release and said it did not show Walker posing a threat to the officers before he was shot. He called the video ‘shocking’ and said the killing was like a ‘massacre’.”
Read more here.
NEW YORK
In an emotional testimony, New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie recalls his horrific treatment at the hands of rogue NYPD officers during a 2020 racial justice protest. “I’m still dealing with…trauma from this experience,” the lawmaker said. “It’s hard to capture in words how this made me feel then and how it makes me feel now.”
Read more here.
The Justice Department has announced it’s opening a probe into the NYPD’s Special Victims Division following years of troubling allegations, including “neglecting serious structural problems that have long damaged sex crimes and child abuse investigations.”
Read more here.
VERMONT
Seeking transparency, the Burlington Police Commission has called for an independent investigation into current law enforcement practices that might indicate racial bias. “This is how we get back to building community trust in the department,” commended City Councilor Joe Magee.
Read more here.
MARYLAND
The Baltimore City Police Department has flunked an audit on the effectiveness of its surveillance procedures. For example, the audit uncovered that “certain officers were not always in compliance with body-worn camera policy requirements relating to uploading, categorizing, and titling videos.”
Read more here.
Baltimore’s mayor, Brandon Scott, has officially signed off on legislation establishing a 17-member police accountability board. “It is necessary…that we ensure that while we want our officers engaging in our community, that we’re doing that through constitutional policing and ways that rebuild trust with our community,” the mayor said at a news conference.
Read more here.
ILLINOIS
A rogue Park Ridge police officer is under investigation for brutalizing a teen of Puerto Rican descent, whom he falsely accused of stealing his son’s bike. “We can’t possibly put into words how we’re feeling—disgust, anger, frustration, outrage, fear, sadness,” said Nicole Nieves, the victim’s mother, who believes the violent incident was racially motivated.
Read more here.
ADDITIONAL NEWS
Concord Monitor: If Accountability Is the Question, Immunity Is Not the Answer
“[The Institute for Justice] and [state] reps are ‘preparing legislation for next year that would ensure Granite Staters harmed by government officials have their day in state court.’ Although the bill’s details are not yet finalized, its goal is clear: to ‘authorize civil rights lawsuits in state court and prohibit government officers and agencies from invoking qualified immunity and other judge-made doctrines.’”
Read more here.
NBC News: Supreme Court Declines to Review Limits of Police Immunity From Lawsuits
“Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the Supreme Court’s order, saying the authorities were not entitled to qualified immunity. The jailer’s ‘failure to call emergency medical services was an inexplicable and unreasonable decision that…clearly constituted deliberate indifference to [Derrek] Monroe’s life-or-death medical needs,’ she wrote.”
Read more here.
The New Republic: Impunity Had a Great Year at the Supreme Court
“Compounding the problem is that the court rarely takes qualified immunity cases head-on. It often instead resolves them through summary reversals of the lower courts, without oral arguments or signed opinions by the majority. In some circumstances, it also simply lets inexplicable decisions by the lower courts stand without further review, over the dissents of some of the justices.”
Read more here.
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