Appeals Court Revives Excessive-Force Claims Against Ferguson Officers
A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived excessive-force claims against police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, accused of beating a man while he was “subdued and compliant” in jail.
Although the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the dismissal of claims against individual officers, the three-judge panel agreed with a lower court judge that the city of Ferguson—which became a national symbol of tensions between African-Americans and police after the fatal shooting last year of Michael Brown—could not be held responsible for a 2009 altercation between police and the plaintiff, Henry Davis.
*Davis’ lawyer, James Schottel of Schottel & Associates in St. Louis, said that he “had hoped for different results on the municipality claim against Ferguson, but it’s a very, very tough burden.” The Eighth Circuit, he said, was known to be "conservative" on those types of issues, so he was not surprised by the outcome.
“Overall, I think there was some very good language regarding excessive-force claims moving forward. That was the heart of the case,” Schottel said.
*Ferguson police brought Davis to jail after he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. The officers’ accounts of what happened differ from Davis’ version of events, but the appeals court said it was undisputed that “a short, bloody fight ensued” and there was evidence that multiple officers “beat or kicked Davis after he was handcuffed and subdued on the floor of the cell.”
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