Judge rules against Qualified Immunity for police officer who violated man's 4th Amendment rights.

[Ray From Cleveland]

Awesome. And now they and the cop can pay a huge fine for violating this man's civil rights.

Keep dreaming. It will be overturned the very first appeal court.

 

[JoeB131]

Yes they did. They were called out for strange man in a house in which he didn't live. They called him out and got no response. That's reasonable suspicion.

If you replace the word "Strange" with "Black:, you mean?

 

[JoeB131]

Keep dreaming. It will be overturned the very first appeal court.

Not in this climate...

We might even see the end of qualified immunity, be still my breaking heart.

 

[woodwork201]

it's reasonable suspicion to enter a house where a potential crime is taking place.

Right now, at your house and at this very minute, there is the potential that a crime is being committed. Can the police come in your house, guns drawn, and cuff you?

Your statement doesn't even make sense. It is not reasonable suspicion to enter a house. Entering a house is a physical act and reasonable suspicion describes a thought process. It is never reasonable suspicion to DO anything.

Did you even listen to the radio traffic and watch the body cam video? The dispatcher told the first cop only that there was someone in the house and that the house was supposed to be empty - based solely on the word of a woman who sounded like she was shaking in her boots. The cop opened the door without knocking or announcing himself and looked inside. Then he did make a reasonable attempt to be heard when he announced that he was with the police but he was clearly not heard. Music and singing in the back continued.

The cop waited several minutes for multiple cops to arrive. Finally, the first two entered the house with guns drawn and once fully in the house, a good 10 feet or more, the called out loudly that they were the police and for the guy to come out with his hands up - which the guy did. They said, right off, "You don't live here." He explained the house belonged to his coach and the coach had given them permission to stay there. The guy was barefoot, in sweat pants and an A-shirt. Clearly not common attire for a burglary.

They immediately cuffed him and then, within a minute of the cops making contact with Furdge, the third cop came in and said that another neighbor had told him the Furdge lived there. Amazing what just a tiny bit of police work, taking just a minute or two, can reveal that could, in very many cases, save a life.

As soon as the third cop told them Furdge had permission to be there, they uncuffed him. They clearly were not threatened when they allowed him to go back in the room to get his phone - remember cell phones look just like guns to a cop.

The cops were friendly and Furdge was friendly. That doesn't mean they didn't violate his rights. All they had to do is ask him to sit down. Two cops, with guns drawn, standing feet away from a sitting suspect, certainly are not in danger. And Furdge clearly knew from the start that his rights were violated. His first words were, "I know; a black man." He knew enough to be polite to two cops with guns drawn.

And for whoever it was that said the music was probably rap, it wasn't - or didn't sound like rap to me; there was only a couple seconds that were audible.

 

[woodwork201]

So you never read stories about criminals making themselves at home by getting something to eat out of the victims refrigerator or cooking on their stove? You never read about stories of a drugged up or drunk person thinking they were sleeping on their own couch when it was that of a stranger they never met?

You said cops as in plural. But the OP reads that it was one police officer that originally knocked at the door and yelled for the subject to come out. Before he entered the home, he called for backup so there were two of them obviously for safety reasons.

He called for backup before he exited his vehicle. Before he entered there were two cops at the door and one, the one who had already talked to another neighbor who said Furdge had permission to be there, was walking across the front of the house toward the two at the door, without his gun in his hand. How do I know he had talked to the other neighbor? Because he came in just seconds after the first two and told them so.

 

[woodwork201]

Your comprehension skills suffer. In the OP it reads the neighbor stated he was outside on the patio. When the officer arrived he was inside the house.

Listen to the 911 call. The busy-body neighbor clearly states that the "African American" was sitting on the front steps.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Yes they did. They were called out for strange man in a house in which he didn't live. They called him out and got no response. That's reasonable suspicion.

You have a much, much lower bar for what is reasonable suspicion than I do.

 

[woodwork201]

Leftists are the most myopic people in our country. They have no imagination to put the shoe on the other foot. As I asked, if somebody robbed their home, found out the police responded to the complaint by the neighbor, and simply left because there was no response by the suspect, they'd be having a shit fit. They would be suing the officers, suing the city, and complaining that our police are not doing their jobs.

Being a constitutional conservative, I accept that the cost of liberty is that sometimes bad people get away with being bad people. As I was taught as a child, something that was universally accepted in my world - all my family and teachers and everyone I knew: better for a thousand guilty to go free than for a single innocent man be in prison. Please don't point out that no one went to prison. The principle is that liberty and rights trump law enforcement and safety every time.

 

[woodwork201]

No. Might be, I just think the police investigated a report, controlled the situation for the safety of all involved and left, after the situation was clarified, not even keep the guy cuffed, while they waited for confirmation, nobody arrested, nobody struck or physically injured , shot, cussed or verbally abused.
I guess I have higher levels of tolerance than you, coming from a different time here in the south. I got taken into custody one time, transported across county lines, locked up for maybe two hours, while the out of county sheriff and deputies questioned each of us (73 of us) about drugs, drinking, etc. Upon release without charges (as I was sober, not under the influence of drugs or alcohol) I found the Sheriff's department had broken into my van, found my spare key, and used it without my permission to haul a van load of young adults and juveniles (while I was locked in the back of a squad car, refusing to unlock the the van for an illegal search without a warrant) across county lines (out of their jurisdiction) to the jail. In doing so, they broke a window out of the track, allowing them to gain entry, finding my spare key,they loaded prisoners, damaging the mount on my new Craig Quadraphonic 8-track player and knocked one of the 1 ft speakers off it's mounts on one of the rear doors. When I went back into the jail to ask who was going pay for or fix the damages on the van (3 weeks off the new car lot), I was told by the sheriff of that county to get the hell out of there, right then or would be thrown back in jail until Monday morning and not to come back to his county. Those are fairly significant violation of my rights. My dad called a friend of the family, Judge Pelham McMurray in Paducah, Ky. where we had moved from. I went back and politely ask for my van to be fixed, again was told I was getting ready to go back in the jail, whereupon I gave him the direct line phone number to the judge, recommending he call before anything rash was done. The judge explained that Federal warrants for his arrest would be forthcoming within 24 hours for a variety of federal offenses if the sheriff re-evaluate his idea of law enforcement in this matter, and recommended the sheriff reconsider the request for damages. My new van and equipment were totally repaired, but I was advised not to come back to that town or county as they would be on the lookout for the only bright red, new Chevy van with chrome wheel and wide tires and speeding tickets at the very least would result.
I did not sue and did not go back for a couple of years. I had been returned to (in my opinion) the status quo anti, prior to the misadventure, counting myself lucky, knowing if they had arrived 45 minutes later, I would have indeed been, not only drunker than hell, but stoned out of my gourd. The year was 1974, the town Camden, TN, the party was Bruceton Tennessee high school graduation party in Carroll County at the sand pits between Bruceton and Camden, the sheriff was Jerry Phiefer, who about two years later (coincidentally) would be indicted on several of a variety of charges, such as mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to bootlegging in that dry county, extortion, etc, etc, etc. We've had some very colorful sheriffs in West Tennessee.
I told you that, to prove I am a no harm no foul kind of guy, when it comes to law enforcement.

It's very unfortunate for all the rest who that Sheriff abused after you that you didn't take a stand and sue. It's sad for you that you accepted such a violation of your rights though it is lucky for you to have the contacts to get your van fixed. Unfortunately, most people don't have the contacts to protect them from such abuse and as long as you allow yourself to be abused you enable the abuser to abuse the next person. Every case of civil rights violation should result in civil and/or criminal penalties and then the cops, and government as a whole, will quit violating civil rights.

Often times the reason cops violate rights is for their own safety when there are other safety protocols they can use that don't require the risk of violent confrontation or at least increase the distance and safety of that confrontation.

I'd bet money that the two cops that went into that house will investigate with neighbors or the home owner before they enter a home because some karen neighbor calls about a suspicious African-American sitting on the steps.

Oh, I forgot to mention, she waved at him when she got home and he waved back; no fear, no panic. A casual wave back and forth. And then she went into the house and called the cops.

 

[woodwork201]

Read the OP. The owner recently passed away.

Not true. That was the previous owner. There's a new owner. Do houses where people pass away become abandoned?

 

[cnm]

It wasn't his home, it was the home of his coaches mother.

He resided there. It was his home.

 

[woodwork201]

So HTF are the police supposed to know the owner died and his son let this guy stay there? They didn't know if he was supposed to be there or not. That's why the police were called out.



Most people don't have safes in their home. They don't live in a crime infested shithole like you do.

Do you live in a crime infested shithole? Do you have a safe? If yes to both then you probably meant, "Most people don't have safes in their home. They don't live in a crime infested shithole like I do." Otherwise, that's a bullshit post.

 

[cnm]

So HTF are the police supposed to know the owner died and his son let this guy stay there?

By asking politely. Would you be happy to be handcuffed (for your and everyone else's safety) whenever spoken to by the police?

 

[woodwork201]

That is procedure...For the detained, as well as officer safety.

So, in every "terry stop" or other investigation where the cop feels like he has reasonable suspicion, those he suspects are held in handcuffs until the matter is cleared? If that's the procedure it should be in every case, not just the case of black men.

And, of course, if it were every case, I think that even you and Ray would be up in arms.

 

[woodwork201]

Again, the problem was they treated him like a perp until they found out he wasn't--- because he was black.



Maybe... or maybe they will get a jury of black folks who have all had encounters with the police where the cops treat them like perps, and will send a clear message that they are sick of that shit.



If you got treated the way this man was treated, Anger Issues, you'd still be screaming about it.



Really, I've had a bunch of encounters with the police, and they never slapped me in cuffs once. I wonder why that is... Wait.

OH YEAH, BECAUSE I'M WHITE

I actually did have an analogous situation in 2016. I had told my neighbor that I was going to be on a business trip for a week, but came back a couple days early. I opened the window to air out the place while I went to the store to run an errand.

My cat- being a cat - pushed out a loose screen and got out of the house, and my neighbor thought maybe someone might be in there. So she called our local squirrel cops.

When I got back, the officer DID take the opportunity to walk through the house with me and check my ID, but what he didn't do was slap the cuffs on me for "safety".

Race aside, I can link stories probably all day long of people, white and black, arrested for trespassing on their own property. It has to stop; basic police work has gone out the window in the furor to arrest and the power hungry, authoritarian, behaviors of modern police.

 

[woodwork201]

And only on 2 month loan, at that.

It was still his home. Are you suggesting that renters have no right or expectation that the police don't enter without cause?

 

[woodwork201]

It's standard police procedure. If you don't like it, write to the various police academies. That's what police do. They called out the subject and he didn't respond. So they entered the house armed to protect themselves. No law against it. They put him in handcuffs for their own safety so they didn't have to hold the gun on the guy. Again, standard police procedure. After they figured out what was going on, they took the cuffs off.

When Can Police Place You in Handcuffs? - FindLaw

Many people associate being handcuffed by police with being arrested and read Miranda rights. However, there are several different situations, including but not limited to being arrested, in which police may place you in handcuffs or other restraints without violating your civil rights. So when...

www.findlaw.com

Once again, if standard police practice was to cuff every suspicious character in every Terry stop across the nation, or even across that town's PD, then the cop would get off scott-free for following process and the department would have the fault for a greater wrong in cuffing everyone they talk to about any suspicious activity. Hopefully, if that were truly the standard practice as you suggest, even you would be up in arms.

 

[cnm]

And only on 2 month loan, at that.

It would appear if one doesn't have title to a property it can't be one's home. Interesting.

 

[cnm]

SOMEBODY WAS IN THE HOUSE THAT DIDN'T LIVE THERE!

Of course the thing is he did live there.

 

[cnm]

They put him in handcuffs for their own safety

Oh. I thought it was for everyone's safety.