Circuit Courts of Appeal Archives - Page 5 of 6

A Refresher on Tasers – Tenth Circuit

In Emmett v. Armstrong, we travel over to the Tenth Circuit to examine a taser and UOF case. This case is from 2020, but raises some important use of force topics regarding tasers and qualified immunity. To begin, a review of Electronic Control Weapon guidelines from IACP. According to the IACP, the ECW is authorized to be used: to protect the officer or others from reasonably perceived immediate threat of physical

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Traffic Stop Turned Drug Bust – Fourth Circuit

In United States v. Davis, 997 F.3d 191 (4th Cir. 2021) the 4th Circuit examines a routine traffic stop that turns into a chase. That chase eventually ends with several illegal possessions getting scooped up and a Fourth Amendment appeal about how the evidence was obtained. The 4th Circuit cites multiple SCOTUS cases in their argument, including Chimel v. California, New York v. Belton and Arizona v. Gant. In Chimel v. California, SCOTUS held that

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Circuit Courts of Appeals – August 2021

The Legal Training Division of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers’ Office of Chief Counsel is dedicated to providing law enforcement officers with quality, useful and timely United States Supreme Court and federal Circuit Courts of Appeals reviews, interesting developments in the law, and legal articles written to clarify or highlight various issues. The views expressed in these articles are the opinions of the

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Circuit Courts of Appeals – July 2021

Fourth Circuit United States v. Buzzard, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 17518 (4th Cir. WV June 11, 2021) Around 1:30 a.m., a police officer pulled over a car for a defective brake light. Jason Buzzard was driving, and Paul Martin was in the passenger seat of the car. When the officer made contact with the Buzzard, he requested Buzzard’s license, registration, and proof of insurance.

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Excessive Use of Force – Ninth Circuit

Our case today is another question of excessive use of force stemming from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In this case officers arrive to the scene to handle a perceived violent individual who may or may not have been experiencing a seizure. From the facts in this case, it seems that our suspect, James O’Doan, was of sound mind and was evading police during his “episode”.

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Casual Miranda Rights – Eighth Circuit

In today’s case out of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals we encounter two known drug users and Miranda rights. As a reminder, you are required to provide Miranda warnings when conducting a “custodial interrogation”. A person is in “custody” for Miranda, purposes, when there is a formal arrest, or you are restraining the person’s freedom of movement to the degree associated with a formal arrest. To determine whether a person was in custody, the court

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Fatal Use of Force – Fifth Circuit

Today we travel to the Fifth Circuit to review a fatal use of force case. As officers, we never want to be in the position where we get to the point of needing to deploy our firearm to protect ourselves, but as you will see in this case the use of force was more than necessary. What should have been a simple traffic stop

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UOF Following a Pursuit and Plaintiff Safety – Third Circuit

Our case today comes to us from the Third Circuit and involves both qualified immunity and alleged excessive force. The facts of this case get a little hectic and in order to fully understand the court’s decision it is important to review how an officer is entitled to qualified immunity. When deciding if an officer is entitled to qualified immunity the officer’s actions must not violate a

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United States v. Brinkley, “Knock and Talk without Probable Cause”

Our case today comes from the Fourth Circuit. In February 2017, a federal-state task force in Charlotte, North Carolina pursued outstanding arrest warrants. Among the targets was Kendrick Brinkley, who had an outstanding arrest warrant for unlawfully possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. An ATF agent and Detective on the taskforce found Brinkley after extensive research into his addresses. Where things start to fall apart, however,

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Automated License Plate Readers, LEARN – Ninth Circuit

Today’s case comes to us from the 9th Circuit and looks at issues surrounding Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) and whether officers can access information from private databases populated by ALPR entries. The 9th Circuit describes the Vigilant Solutions LEARN (Law Enforcement Archival Reporting Network) program as a searchable database of entries from private and public sources that allow law enforcement subscribers to enter

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