CA1: The trick to avoiding liability is not letting the officers be identified

Pineda v. Watts, No. 07-2462 (7/16/08).  In an arrest following a shooting some officers that were “smart enough” (in the words of a former prosecutor I know) to not be identified roughed up the suspect.  But, this case comes down to a question of whether the defendants were supervising the rough cops and whether they presented “an ‘affirmative link‘ between the defendants' supervisory conduct and the subordinate police officers' alleged constitutional violations.”  The First says that the plaintiffs didn’t present any evidence of such a link, and therefore, because some cops figured out how to not be identified the defendant can’t even get to trial.  Somewhere out there, someone figures that justice was done.

Comments

[Mike]

It's unfortunate that the suspect wasn't careful enough. He obviously allowed his head to come into contact with the officers. It's a good thing the officers didn't arrest him for the injuries he caused by allowing his person to come into contact with them.