Kevin Byrd challenges qualified immunity (QI). In 2019, bad federal agent Ray Lamb threatened Kevin Byrd. The attack was unprovoked. Byrd had done nothing wrong. As USA Today notes, Byrd had gone to a Houston bar. Specifically, to gather information about a car crash. The crash had left his ex-girlfriend in the hospital. At the bar’s parking lot, Byrd encountered Homeland Security agent Ray Lamb. Lamb is the father of the driver involved in the accident. Lamb then proceeded to violate Kevin Byrd’s rights.
Per Byrd, as he tried to leave the parking lot, Lamb “jumped out of a truck with a gun in his hand.” In addition, “Lamb attempted to smash his car window and threatened to ‘blow his head off.’” It was a senseless act.
“I thought I was going to lose my life,” Byrd said. In response, he sued. In his lawsuit, Byrd asserted that Lamb had “no legal basis whatsoever” to point a gun at him.
However, an appeals court disagreed. In fact, they gave Ray Lamb qualified immunity.
The unjust doctrine not only shields bad cops. On the contrary, it protects all manner of corrupt public officials. For instance, federal agents. “Because Lamb was a federal agent,” USA Today writes, “Byrd could not sue him at all.”
Despite this setback, Kevin Byrd refuses to back down. He seeks to challenge the unjust verdict. “Byrd is now asking the Supreme Court to review his case,” USA Today states. His goal is to “ensure that lower courts hold federal law enforcement officers accountable when they violate citizens’ rights.”
USA Today’s Editorial Board supports Kevin Byrd’s decision to challenge qualified immunity. In fact, the Board came out against QI in July. It knows that QI is unconstitutional. Thus, “there should be no Constitution-free zones” In this country. “Nor should police officers, including those who wear a federal badge, be above the law,” the Board concludes.
Read the article on Kevin Byrd challenging QI here.