By now we’ve all seen the footage of the train in Colorado hitting the police car stopped on the tracks, severely injuring a woman in police custody who was placed handcuffed in the rear of the police cruiser. My immediate thought was qualified immunity. There can be no doubt that the police officer was directly at fault in causing the severe injuries to the woman in his custody. No doubt about it. But unlike a doctor who negligently injures someone, a police officer get to assert qualified immunity.
Qualified immunity is unfair and needs to be abolished. A lawyer representing this woman, if a lawsuit is filed, is going to have the legal requirement to point to some past clearly established case law describing the officer’s conduct as a civil rights violation. Well, how many cases have there been in any particular jurisdiction where police officers let people in their custody get hit by trains? Moreover, as I’ve explained before, to establish section 1983 liability, you have to allege intentional conduct – not negligence or incompetence. Some intentional or purposeful conduct. For this reason, when one police officer accidentally shoots their partner, there’s generally no liability. I did a video on that one already.
I took a quick look at the case law in the jurisdiction where this train incident happened, which is Colorado, which is in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. So that’s where you want to look first for federal civil rights case law. I have a theory of liability here. First, take a look at some of the new footage released, from another angle.
Abandoned on Train Tracks by Police | Qualified Immunity? | State-Created Danger Theory
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More on qualified immunity: https://thecivilrightslawyer.com/2020/06/22/what-is-qualified-immunity-and-why-does-it-fail-at-life/
Parking on train tracks seems like a common sense thing
I was not aware of the extent of qualified immunity and what i have understood to be something like absolute immunity for judges and some federal employees until i started watching this channel a few days ago. I am shocked to say the least. No wonder so many bad apples keep their jobs and continue to abuse people. BIG PROBLEM!
I drive past this spot daily. Those are extremely active tracks. Everyone knows it. That officer should be working at walmart.
The gage here is would an officer put hit wife or child in a locked car on railroad tracks intentionally? Clearly the answer is they would not.
(Overturn Terry versus ohio) (end qualify immunity)
Also end (Absolute immunity for Prosecutors)
Why would anyone park a vehicle on any active train tracks? You get out of your vehicle and oh, I’m on train tracks, I will move my vehicle. Not only do you decide not to, you lock a restrained person in that vehicle, again realizing your parked on active train tracks and again decide not to move the vehicle. Ooh!
NO ONE WITH A BRAIN will ever park a vehicle on an active train track.
No, I do NOT support qualified immunity, as it is judicial abuse, and revictimization of victims of law enforcement abuses. However, until it is abolished, there it is.
In this case there can't be qualified immunity for qualified stupidity. These two officers (I'm trying really hard to maintain proper protocol) were *so busy trying to nail this poor woman for a crime she may, or may not, have committed, while the train horn blared its arrival.
IMO, this should be THE case that abolishes qualified immunity.
Yup, I'm angry…
But why is the car parked on the tracks in first place? Like wtf?
Wow. It's a miracle she's alive! Who could possibly be that stupid? Either the cops did it or purpose or they are too dumb to be out in society.
Bothers me most about it is they were so focused on building a case neither officer knew where the arrested person was. They asked each other "was she in the car?" How long had you been parked on track that you completed forgot where the person you cuffed was at.
why did he park on the tracks
Qualified immunity is kind of a shit show, there are some limited situations where it applies but with it being just a blanked immunity to liability is a problem
AND THEY GIVE PEOPLE PARKING TICKETS, AND ATTA BOYS FOR CAGING PEOPLE, GOTTA GET THAT REEFER MADNESS
WHO PARKS ON TRAIN TRACKS ESPECIALLY A COP??? HOW STUPID CAN HE BE? Wait….don't answer that. This is so absurd….it wouldn't surprise me if this cop did it on purpose.
This woman should get millions of dollars. Get rid of qualified immunity. These idiots should be jailed for attempted murder 3:24
It's like when the old timey cartoon villains in silent films would tie someone to the track n twiddle their mustache
Thats a lot off murders there like a serial killer
This goes back to my comments saying that some people are to stupid to be cops. You can't get any stupider than that..
Maybe I am missing something here, but what kind of IDIOT parks on a railroad track, let alone puts someone handcuffed in their car without at that time moving said car off the tracks? If for any reason you end up stopped on a railroad track, is it not a normal response to then remove your vehicle from the track as soon as possible? That poor woman! I don't know the story but I bet everything whatever she did was not as STUPID or dangerous as what was done to her.
People that stupid shouldn’t even be allowed to DRIVE, much less carry guns and have the power to (lawfully, or not) ARREST and cage citizens! EVERY decently aware person knows trains run on tracks, and not to impede them! 😒
No they need to get rid of Qualified immunity they don't deserve it
Was she in there?Oh f{}ck and then calls dispatch and say, "send medical, my car has been hit"! Gzzzz
Why would this moron cop park on the tracks in the first place
This cop should be immediately fired
Thank you John for the update. Qualified immunity for police officers needs to be stopped immediately it makes them above the law.
Do you know if anything has happened with this? I do not support qualified immunity!
I mean kind of retard parks on the railroad tracks in the first place. It doesn’t take any training to realise how dangerous doing so is.
“Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum”
"Let justice be done though the heavens fall."
If this is not a calluses disregard for serve and PROTECT I don't know what is this is totally irresponsible I would award a 500 million dollar amount.
I don't think in the history of mankind has there been a more incredible act of stupidity. These total jerks should be fired immediately. God almighty how dumb can you possibly be?
Right off the bat, everyone knows it is reckless and extremely dangerous to stop or park on any train track, PERIOD!!! This is well know, and not something that just came about.
These officers need to be charged with
1) Destruction of taxpayers property. The officer parking a police vehicle on train tracks. The officer knew the vehicle was PARKED on a train track.
a) The officer had to walk over the train track getting out of the police vehicle.
b) The officer, again, had to walk over the train tracks to placing the woman in harms way, in the back of the police vehicle.
2) Life endangerment, just for placings the woman in a vehicle parked on a train track.
3) Attempted Murder. They placed a person in a car parked on a train tracks. While they searched the car, the train horn can be heard several moments before the train got to them. They had time to get the woman out of the car before the train hit the car. Neither officer even tried to save the woman nor did they even care. The only thing the officers cared about was searching the woman's vehicle, not the woman's life. (Proof is on the officer's body cameras). They only cared after the fact and to save their butts.
We do not need case law to know about the danger of being on a train track. It has been known and even shown from the beginning of motion pictures (over 100 years now). That placing a person on a train track where they are unable to get off the track is a method of killing/murdering the person, using the train as the deadly/murder weapon.
This all shows deliberate and knowing negligence of both officers.
Department policy says you can't leave a detainee on the tracks.
Wow police Sargent assaults suspect with freight train.🤬I would be ashamed if this guy worked in my town at the least
He should lose his badge and never work for police EVER again .talk about dropping the BALL
I wonder what you think of this but my bigger issue is with prosecutorial immunity. A cop who unlawfully arrests someone would have much more incentive to confirm that they have probable cause if they weren’t sure that prosecutors would protect them by bringing charges calling into question for many, how could a cop know the law and be held liable if the prosecutors, lawyers who’s entire job is to know these laws, didn’t know the law…
Did the cop charge her with leaving the scene too?
What kind of stupid parks anything on a RR track?
How stupid can they b
This was nothing more than neglect
these have got to be some of the stupidest people on earth! They should lose their jobs and LEO cert. I can not believe they could hear the train whistle and did not do a F#$KING thing to move the car or remove the person they had in custody!
There's a police officer named Ray Johnson works at McKeesport Hospital in Pennsylvania he stabs people with dirty needle see if they're drunk
Dumd as cop
He said his car got hit by the train but didn't even mention the woman .
All charged