U.S. top court won't review Houston police shooting 'waistband' defense

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

The U.S. Supreme Court, turning down a chance to test the limits of police use of force, declined on Monday to revive an unarmed suspect's lawsuit accusing a Houston officer of unconstitutional excessive force for shooting him in the back after he reached for his own waistband.

The justices, over a dissent by liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, let stand a lower court's dismissal of a civil rights lawsuit brought by Ricardo Salazar-Limon, the drunken driving suspect who was left partially paralyzed after the 2010 traffic stop, against the officer who shot him, Chris Thompson.

The issue of police use of force has been in the spotlight in the United States following a series of shootings by officers of minorities in recent years as well as high-profile attacks on law enforcement officers.

Sotomayor, writing in a dissent joined by fellow liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, said the court's refusal to take up the case continues a "disturbing trend" of shielding police officers from lawsuits and rarely intervening when they act wrongly.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-police-idUSKBN17Q1F5

---

U.S. | Mon Apr 24, 2017 | 11:14am EDT
By Andrew Chung

[Orrex]

1. On the other hand...

Does anyone doubt how a 5:4 Gorsuch court would have ruled?

[former9thward]

2. Only two Justices even wanted to hear it.

[cstanleytech]

3. I actually disagree with Ginsberg for a change and thats not to often as

assuming the cop isnt lying (I really wish all police cars and officers were required to have cameras on them as it would make it easier at times to confirm what happened) it was stupid as shit for the guy try to walk away from the cop and then to put his hands near his waist like that assuming of course yet again that the cop isnt lying about the turn of events.