香港三级片

On the night that widespread protests broke out in the city after a judge found former police Officer Jason Stockley not guilty of murdering a Black motorist, Anthony Lamar Smith, Baude left his apartment to record the proceedings and protect his community.

That decision would have devastating consequences. Like many St. 香港三级片ans 鈥� protesters, residents and reporters 鈥� he got caught up in the aggressive 鈥渒ettling鈥� technique executed by police that night. An advancing wall of police trapped protesters in the intersection of Washington Avenue and Tucker Boulevard.

Citizens were thrown to the ground, pepper sprayed and manhandled by police, who would later famously chant, mimicking protesters: 鈥淲hose streets? Our streets.鈥�

Like many citizens caught up in this unprecedented police action, Baude sued, alleging a violation of his First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights. The city, as it has in most of the other civil lawsuits, defended itself and its officers, citing the legal concept of 鈥渜ualified immunity,鈥� which gives police officers and their employers broad protections unless their specific action has previously been found to be a civil violation.

In January, Baude, and potentially most of the other litigants involved in that infamous spectacle, won a huge victory, when a three-judge panel on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that qualified immunity shouldn鈥檛 apply in the case.

鈥淧olice may be entitled to qualified immunity protections if they arrest individual offenders with at least arguable probable cause,鈥� it states, 鈥渂ut officers cannot enjoy such protections by alleging that 鈥榯he unlawful acts of a small group鈥� justify the arrest of the mass.鈥�

The ruling should pave the way for the lawsuit to move forward or for the city to smartly settle it, considering how embarrassing and expensive the police overreach from that night 鈥� including beating up one of its own Black officers 鈥� has been.

But that鈥檚 not what happened. This week, the city didn鈥檛 just appeal the case to the full Eighth Circuit, it signaled its intention to take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

鈥淩ehearing in this case is required because the panel opinion raises questions of critical national importance in the context of policing mass civil disorder by analyzing defendants鈥� claims of qualified immunity at a high level of generality by reason of their participation in the mass arrest,鈥� said the brief, issued under the name of Mayor Tishaura O. Jones鈥� new city counselor, Sheena Hamilton.

Baude鈥檚 attorney, Javad Khazaeli, describes the brief in one word:

鈥淏别迟谤补测补濒.鈥�

Khazaeli endorsed Jones鈥� run for mayor, in part because she promised a new way of doing business in the city, specifically as it relates to holding police accountable. He was heartened when, after she was elected, her chief of staff, Jared Boyd, indicated the city would handle police lawsuits differently.

The new city counselor, Boyd told St. 香港三级片 Public Radio last year, would redefine 鈥�. ... It鈥檚 not to say we shouldn鈥檛 be cognizant of city resources, but that can鈥檛 be the only thing.鈥�

Jones鈥� office says that is still the case.

鈥淚n mediation (of the Baude case), the city greatly increased its settlement offer 鈥� beyond even comparable cases 鈥� and have not received a response from opposing counsel,鈥� says Nick Dunne, spokesman for Jones. 鈥淭he city will continue to implement the Ahmad consent decree; since the decree was issued, neither the city or (police department) have been sued regarding protest cases.鈥�

The consent decree was reached in the case of another protester from September 2017, after a federal judge significantly limited police actions during protests.

St. 香港三级片 University Law Professor Brendan Roediger, who has played an active role in police accountability measures in the past decade, says the case puts the mayor, and her city counselor, in a tough spot.

鈥淩easonable people would agree that the city counselor鈥檚 job is to represent city employees and that includes police officers, and that will sometimes mean that the city counselor鈥檚 office is going to say things different than the mayor is saying publicly. That鈥檚 OK,鈥� Roediger says.

鈥淏ut there is a big difference between that and asking one of the more conservative circuits in the United States to take an even more conservative position on qualified immunity. The policy argument that it鈥檚 OK for a city police officer to do pretty much anything during a protest is different. This is a very policy-based motion.鈥�

Dunne says the city is not seeking an expansion of qualified immunity. But lawyers who have read the brief in the Baude case say that鈥檚 exactly what would happen if the court rules in the city鈥檚 favor. That could produce political repercussions beyond the important issue of police accountability.

鈥淲hat the city counselor is doing could have serious consequences for transformation justice efforts throughout the country,鈥� says the Rev. Darryl Gray, a local police accountability activist who is still facing his own charges from the city related to a different protest. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a slap in the face for activists, who literally, put their safety and even lives on the front line for police accountability.鈥�

The legal filing has people who have traditionally been in Jones鈥� camp concerned that when it comes to police accountability, at least in the courts, the new boss looks very much like the old boss.

鈥淭his is a request for expansion within the realm of protest policing,鈥� Roediger says, 鈥渁nd that鈥檚 dangerous.鈥�