MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

What is qualified immunity? After Tyre Nichols' murder calls grow to end principle that protects cops

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar took to her Twitter account and tweeted 'End Qualified Immunity!' and several netizens seemed to be supporting her

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE: Tyre Nichols, 29, was allegedly killed by police on January 7 after being pulled over for purported reckless driving. Following the killing of  Nichols, five police officers had been fired and charged with murder. Video from one of the officers' body cameras shows five cops brutally beating Nichols and spraying pepper spray in his face as he screamed for his mother.

The policemen kicked him and hit him with a metal baton while shouting obscenities at him. Nichols could be heard calling his mother as he kept saying, "Mom! Mom!" multiple times in the viral bodycam clip along with the words “I'm just trying to go home." Nichols' killing has resulted in the arrests with second-degree murder charges on five police officers: Tadarrius Bean, Emmit Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr, Justin Smith, and Demetrius Haley. 

RELATED ARTICLES

‘Mom! Mom!’: Haunting final moments of Tyre Nichols as he was brutally beaten by 5 Memphis cops

Tyre Nichols murder: Protesters cause shutdowns across US after release of traffic stop footage

According to CBS News, on Thursday, William Massey, Martin's attorney, announced that his client had handed himself in. As of Friday morning, according to court documents, Martin had posted a bond and was free to go. After posting a bond of $250,000, Bean, Smith, Mills, and Haley were also allowed to go free. According to the reports, Massey said, "No one out there that night intended for Tyre Nichols to die."

He added, "No one. No one. Police officers have a difficult and dangerous job. It's probably one of their worst fears that something like this would happen on their watch." In reference to Nichols' case and the video of the arrest, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar took to her Twitter account and tweeted "End Qualified Immunity!" Along with Omar, many other people agreed and favored this tweet and wrote against "Qualified Immunity."

What is qualified immunity?

As per a regulation established by the courts, "qualified immunity" prevents victims of police violence and misbehavior from suing law enforcement agencies for violations of their constitutional rights. The doctrine states that a police officer cannot be tried for unlawful conduct, such as the use of excessive or deadly force unless the plaintiff establishes both that the conduct in question was unlawful and that the officers should have been aware that they were doing something that was against "clearly established" law because a previous court case had already ruled that similar police actions were illegal.

Origin

According to EJI, in 1871, Congress approved legislation that made it possible to sue state and local officials who failed to protect African Americans from racial terror lynchings and other acts of racial violence by groups. In 1967, the Supreme Court announced a legal doctrine known as 'qualified immunity', which curtailed this protection in the name of protecting government employees from groundless litigation.

Problem 

Police officers who use excessive force should be held legally liable for their actions. Officers can currently willfully violate people. Fourth Amendment and other Constitutional rights without facing repercussions, so long as the circumstance, isn't identical to one already addressed in a precedent case.

As a result, the doctrine's application varies widely from case to case and from judge to judge. When deciding whether a precedent bars an officer from claiming qualified immunity, for instance, one judge has concluded that "a court may almost always construct a factual distinction."

People extend support to 'end qualified immunity'

Activist Nina Turner wrote on her Twitter handle, "Senate Democrats—instead of tasking your comms team to write statements and tweets about Tyre Nichols, you have the ability to go to the floor, carve out the filibuster, pass the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act & end qualified immunity."

Further, US Senator Ed Markey noted, "Tyre Nichols should be alive today. George Floyd should be alive today. Tamir Rice should be alive today. Countless Black and Brown Americans murdered by the police should be alive today. Abolish qualified immunity. Demilitarize the police. End violent policing."

Ryan Graham tweeted, "You don't have to have an opinion on race relations in this country to watch the Tyre Nichols videos and know that our system is broken. Bad cops need to be held accountable for their actions. End qualified immunity." While, Linda Sarsour wrote, "Officers knew there were body cams. They didn’t care because they are confident that the police unions and their fellow cops will have their back. That’s why we need to END QUALIFIED IMMUNITY to hold cops personally accountable. #TyreNichols."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.