Court sides with Louisiana sheriff’s deputies accused in lawsuit accused of assault on a Black woman.The two assault cases were almost tossed out by the judge for using excessive force on Black women.
Two white Louisiana sheriff’s deputies have received a favorable judgment from a federal appeals court in a lawsuit filed by a Black woman, disproving her allegations of excessive force.
Court sides with Louisiana sheriff’s deputies accused in lawsuit accused of assault on a Black woman. “The court ruled against Teliah Perkins, who was arrested in 2020 outside her residence and had subsequently sued the two St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies on her behalf and her son, who had recorded the arrest on video”, reports say.
On November 30th, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals expressed its opinion that claims of excessive force should be dismissed.
However, they also stated that the lawsuit can proceed against Deputy Ryan Moring for allegedly violating the son’s constitutional rights by obstructing his attempt to record the arrest.
“The statement made by three judges from the 5th Circuit confirms that the video evidence proves that neither Deputy Moring nor Deputy Kyle Hart used excessive force in apprehending Perkins, who was undoubtedly resisting arrest.
U.S. District Judge Wendy Vitter had previously refused to dismiss the civil case against the deputies, stating that there was substantial evidence of constitutional violations against Perkins and her 14-year-old son during the incident in May 2020.
However, during the recent proceedings at the 5th Circuit, the deputies’ lawyer argued that Vitter’s ruling was incorrect and that the video establishes the officers’ actions as justified.”
Vitter deemed that the proof of constitutional rights infringement outweighed the deputies’ plea for the case to be dismissed under the “qualified immunity” doctrine, which safeguards law enforcement from lawsuits related to their job responsibilities.
The deputies’ lawyers contended that the appellate court could dismiss the case at this point, providing three videos by the son and others that supposedly demonstrate that the officer’s actions were justified.
The content and interpretation of the videos were in dispute during the 5th Circuit hearing in May, particularly regarding whether Perkins was choked during her arrest.
Perkins and her son had legal representation from the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, who commented on the partial victory in a statement on Wednesday.
They stated that the ruling reaffirms that witness intimidation by the police, especially when recording incidents of police brutality, is unacceptable.
However, the ACLU strongly disagreed with the decision to dismiss the claims of excessive force, arguing that the case should have been allowed to continue to trial, where a jury could determine whether undue force was used.
The judges overseeing the case were James Ho and Cory Wilson, who were appointed to the 5th Circuit by former President Donald Trump, and Jennifer Walker Elrod, who was nominated by former President George W. Bush. Vitter, the defendant in the case, was appointed to the federal bench by Trump.
Ho disagreed with the Nov. 30 decision that supported the continuation of legal proceedings against Moring for his interference in preventing the filming of the arrest.
In his opinion, Ho stated that the Constitution does not require police officers to assist a citizen in obtaining the perfect camera angle while that citizen is actively disrespecting the police and getting in the way of their ongoing physical altercation with another individual nearby
