After two years of waiting after oral arguments, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling on qualified immunity for a Waterbury, Connecticut police officer, deciding he wasn’t entitled to qualified immunity for violating the constitutionally protected rights of a gun owner.
The lawsuit stems from a November 12, 2018, encounter between Basel Soukaneh and Waterbury Police Officer Nicholas Andrzejewski. At approximately 8:43 p.m., Soukaneh pulled over his car to fix his mobile phone, which froze up. The phone was attached to the dash of his vehicle. Soukaneh turned on this dome light to see what he was doing.
And here's a video from William Kirk of Washington Gun Law about the case:
Well, can an officer, during a valid traffic stop, just pull you out of your car, handcuff you, stuff you in the back of his patrol car, and then search your entire vehicle? Would that ever really happen in America? Washington Gun Law President discusses all of that because could that happen in America, yes, it happens all the time. This time, the person pulled over, and then arrested for merely being in LAWFUL possession of a firearm, has decided to sue the officer. The officer believes that qualified immunity protects him. The trial court, and now the 2nd Circuit disagrees and believes that illegally arrested plaintiff does have a cause of action. The case is Soukaneh v. Andrzejewski, which was originally filed in the US District Court for Connecticut, but now has been affirmed by the 2nd Circuit. But today, we use this case as a very teachable moment so that you can arm yourself with education.
VIDEO HERE (14:10 minutes)
Wait. You mean cops actually have to follow the Constitution they were hired to enforce? What a concept!
ReplyDeleteThis week in Chicago Kamalalala will promise to get rid of the 4th amendment, get rid of the rest of them, and get rid of the constitution because democrat voters want a police state, a police state where ONLY non-democrats will have all their rights taken away.
ReplyDeleteThat will be the promise, until democrat voters realize "what happened to MY rights????"?
You don't need "rights" when control freak tyrants who know they're smarter than you regarding how you live are in charge.
DeleteAnd this is why when you are stopped by a cop, you DO NOT repeat DO Fucking NOT volunteer info or say shit. Unless your states law on concealed carry requires you to and subject to arrest if you don't. And if they abuse your rights you don't fight back at that time, just smile at them and try to remember that lawyers name from TV about getting you millions of dollars for a few bruises and hurt pride. Besides after the trial if you lose you will know who the fuckers involved are and where they live due to discovery in court so either way you win.
ReplyDeleteTalked to a cop neighbor a while back and he said its the ones that just stand there, behave and just smiles at them that tells the cop it will be lawyer time afterwards so they better play nice also.
That last paragraph 👌
DeleteGood decision by the court. AND IT ONLY TOOK 6 YEARS.
ReplyDeleteI'd bet a lot of money that the cop knew before he even approached the car.
ReplyDeleteIn CT, your carry permit is linked to your driver's license. So, it's reasonable to assume that the cop ran his plate, and then saw the car-owner's driver's license showing he had a permit to carry before he even left his squad car.
This cop fucked-up hard--and I think that every cop, town, and state lawyer knows it.
Qualified immunity. Right there in the name for it. Officer Tugnut's actions are only covered as immune to legal actions against him IF they "qualify" as being immune.
ReplyDeleteYes, the cop was being a thug -- but the tragedy doesn't end there. Soukaneh had to wait two years for his day in court, which is bad enough, but now he has to go through still another court proceeding in which he'll be paying for his own lawyer while Andrzejewski will be defended by a PBA lawyer. Worse, Soukaneh's unlikely to receive anything like appropriate compensation for his humiliation. It's also highly likely that Andrzejewski won't be punished. I'd bet he won't lose a penny -- his brethren in blue and other "proud of our police" types will back him with a GoFundMe or some such.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the United Police States of America, where your rights can be trampled at the whim of any badge-toting thug.