An out of uniform detective in an unmarked car decided DeJuan Hopson was planning to commit an armed robbery of a gas station after watching him sit in a car talking with his friend in the parking lot. The detective was baselessly convinced that Mr. Hopson was preparing to the rob the store even though he had watched Mr. Hopson and his friend for over 15 minutes and did not see them engage in any conduct that would suggest they were preparing to commit a robbery. Following his lengthy observation, the detective and several other officers violently extracted Mr. Hopson at gunpoint without ever identifying themselves as law enforcement. The detective was ultimately granted qualified immunity.
Our brief discusses qualified immunity's flawed foundations and argues that the doctrine is especially inappropriate for situations like the present case where an officer is not confronted with a split-second decision.