Brown Undergraduate Law Review — Vol. 2 No. 2 (Spring 2021)

The Legal Precedents for Police Brutality: The Enduring Legacy of the Objective Reasonableness Standard
Cases regarding 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 are also governed
by another concept: qualified immunity. The doctrine of
qualified immunity was originally established by Pierson
v. Ray (1967), in which police in Jackson, Mississippi,
arrested a group of clergymen, including three black
priests, after the group attempted to use a racially
segregated bus terminal. 6 This arrest was based on a state
code that outlawed congregating with others in a public
place, breaching the peace, and refusing to move when
ordered by a police officer. The clergymen were later
sentenced to jail by a local judge. They filed suit against
both the police department and judge under Section 1983
on the basis of false arrest and imprisonment. The Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit maintained that the judge was
immune from liability based on prior Supreme Court
precedent (Bradley v. Fisher (1871)). 7 With regards to the
police, the appeals court found the Mississippi code
unconstitutional yet determined that the police officers had
not acted wrongfully since the police had no way of
knowing which laws were unconstitutional when arresting
the clergymen.
Upon hearing the case, the Supreme Court agreed that the
judge was immune from liability but clarified that the
police officers were not entitled to absolute immunity.
Rather, officers were entitled to immunity when acting
under laws they reasonably believed to be constitutional
even if said laws are later determined otherwise:
A policeman's lot is not so unhappy that he must
choose between being charged with dereliction of duty
if he does not arrest when he has probable cause, and
being mulcted in damages if he does. Although the
matter is not entirely free from doubt, the same
consideration would seem to require excusing him
from liability for acting under a statute that he
reasonably believed to be valid but that was later held
unconstitutional, on its face or as applied . . . . We hold
that the defense of good faith and probable cause,
which the Court of Appeals found available to the
officers in the common-law action for false arrest and
imprisonment, is also available to them under Section
1983. 8
The Supreme Court finally remanded the case for retrial
given evidence that racial motivations influenced the jury.
In the process, the Court?s ruling established the doctrine
of qualified immunity for police officers under Section
1983.
The first major Supreme Court case relating Section 1983
to the authoritative use of force was Tennessee v. Garner
(1985). 9 On October 3, 1974, Memphis Police Officers
Elton Hymon and Leslie Wright responded to reports of a
home break-in. 10 Hymon explored behind the house and
heard a door slam. He then saw 15-year-old Edward
Garner run across the backyard. Using a flashlight, Hymon
was able to see Garner's face and hands and was
?reasonably sure? that Garner was unarmed. He called out
for Garner to halt but Garner began to climb over a
chain-link fence. Then, Hymon fatally shot Garner in the
back of the head. His decision to shoot was based on a
Tennessee statute and police department policy stating that
if, ?after notice of the intention to arrest the defendant, he
either flees or forcibly resists, the officer may use all the
necessary means to effect the arrest.? 11 The authorities
later found ten dollars and a purse on Garner?s body.
Though Hymon suspected Garner of burglarizing the
house, he did not have proof at the time of the shooting.
Garner?s father filed suit under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983,
alleging violations of his son's rights under the Fourth,
Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. The
district court ruled in favor of the defendants since Hymon
was acting under state and local policy. However, the Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the judgment and held
that killing is a form of ?seizure.? The court determined
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Brandon Garrett and Seth Stoughton, ?A Tactical Fourth Amendment,? Virginia Law Review 103, no. 2 (April 2017): 224.
10. Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985).
11. Ibid., 471 U.S. 3.
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