8th Circuit sides with cop accused of 1st Amendment retaliation arrest
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a police officer accused of arresting a man as retaliation for using his First Amendment right to free speech.
minnlawyer.com
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a police officer accused of arresting a man as retaliation for using his First Amendment right to free speech.
Officer Michael Schmitt of Sunrise Beach, Missouri, was patrolling a highway in 2021 when he saw a young man, Mason Murphy, walking along the road with the direction of traffic. Schmitt stopped and asked Murphy to identify himself, but the man refused, and a nine-minute argument began. Murphy asked why he was being detained and criticized the officer, who eventually arrested the pedestrian. Murphy asked for a reason for his arrest, which the officer did not give. While being driven to the Camden County Jail, Murphy asked again, and Schmitt then said the arrest was for “failure to identify.”
Schmitt made a phone call to an unknown person, saying he “saw the [expletive] walking down the highway and [he] would not identify himself,” and “ran his mouth off.” Schmitt then asked, “What can I charge him with?” Schmitt also said that he wanted Murphy to “sit here for being an [expletive].”
After two hours in a jail cell, Murphy — who had then been identified — was released.
Murphy filed a suit alleging unlawful detention and First Amendment retaliation. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri granted Schmitt’s motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity. Murphy and Schmitt agreed that the officer had probable cause to stop Murphy, as he was in violation of the Missouri statute against walking on the right side of a road with no sidewalks.
Original story
Man sues Camden County, claiming he was arrested for walking down the street
The man refused to identify himself to the officer after he was stopped.
www.news-leader.com
Qualified immunity strikes again
