Off-duty officers who badly beat plaintiff were acting under color of law when they twice ordered him to stop and not leave the area and plaintiff obeyed because they acted like police and he believed he was not free to leave, and defendants forced plaintiff onto his stomach and put him into a police hold, then called for backup to make plaintiff’s arrest and identified themselves to dispatch as police officers.
Plaintiff claimed officers fabricated evidence and deliberately deceived the court by concealing evidence of other individuals who had confessed involvement with the murder and coercing and concealing other witnesses, fabricating physical evidence, and concealing evidence that supported an alibi defense; officers argued that the claimed constitutional rights did not exist at the time (1992) because Brady had not been decided; court denied qualified immunity because it found clearly established the rights to be free from being framed by fabricated evidence and perjured testimony and
Plaintiff had been convicted of murder and served several years, obtained relief on habeas corpus, then pleaded guilty to reduced charges for time served, filed civil suit challenging police misconduct that led to initial conviction; officers appealed district court’s denial of qualified immunity and denial of motion to dismiss based on Heck, and Circuit ruled that it was without jurisdiction to hear the Heck issue, which it distinguished from the issues on qualified immunity.
Sustaining awards of punitive damages totaling $355,000 where officers beat plaintiff unconscious, causing severe injuries, then covered up their misconduct by falsely accusing plaintiff of assault leading to his arrest and incarceration, in consideration of officers’ violence, trickery and deceit, and intentional malice, and compensatory damages were $90,000.
Officer was not entitled to qualified immunity for tasing unconscious passenger of vehicle after crash following high-speed chase, where passenger did not respond to officer’s instruction to show his hands, passenger showed no signs of being conscious, and engaged in no active resistance and officer only suspected that he might have been armed.