The George Floyd Case and Section 1983: A Police Officer’s Constitutional Duty to Intervene
by C-K Editor • June 26, 2020 • 0 Comments
By Sheldon Nahmod [originally posted on the Nahmod Law blog on June 25, 2020]
The Intervention Question
Suppose a police officer continues to use life-endangering force even after it is obvious that a misdemeanor arrestee (who has no weapon) is under control and not a danger to others, including police officers. As a result of this use of excessive force, the arrestee dies. This is a violation of clearly settled Fourth Amendment law in every circuit and exposes that officer to potential section 1983 damages liability. If these turn out to be the facts in the George Floyd case, as appears likely at the time of this writing, the result would be the same.
Suppose further that other police officers are present, witness this behavior, have a realistic opportunity to stop the first officer’s unconstitutional use of force but do not act to prevent it. Are they also potentially liable for section 1983 damages for the death of the arrestee because they failed to intervene when they could have, and thus failed to prevent what happened?