St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s deputies are appealing a recent federal court decision that found the deputies are not entitled to qualified immunity in an excessive force lawsuit filed by a Slidell resident.
Judge Wendy Vitter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled against a key claim in a summary judgment motion by deputies Kyle Hart and Ryan Moring. The deputies were involved in the arrest of Teliah Perkins after she was accused of a traffic violation – riding a dirt bike without a helmet.
Perkins alleged in her lawsuit that the deputies forced her to the ground and “leaned on Ms. Perkins’ back and neck with their knees and elbows, pulled her hair, and forced her face against the driveway pavement while wrenching her arms behind her back,” eventually impeding her ability to breathe.
She also accused a deputy of violating her son’s First Amendment rights by pointing a stun gun at him in order to stop him from filming the arrest. The deputies, however, said they had simply used enough force to overcome Perkins’ resistance.
“The court has determined that there is a material issue of fact in dispute regarding whether (the) defendants employed excessive force when arresting (the) plaintiff, or after she was restrained in handcuffs, and when interacting with her minor child D.J. and thus they are not entitled to qualified immunity,” Vitter said in her July 26 opinion. “Accordingly, (the) defendants’ motion for summary judgment as to the state law claims of excessive force, battery and assault must be denied.”
Vitter, however, denied Perkins’ claims that she and her child suffered intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
The legal director of the ACLU of Louisiana, which filed Perkins’ civil lawsuit, said the ruling could help to limit the use of qualified immunity by law enforcement in some situations.
“At the moment, the defendants have appealed this case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,” Norah Ahmed told the Louisiana Record in an email. “... In short, in the event of an affirmance, situations such as those faced by Ms. Perkins and her son would not so readily be subject to qualified immunity in federal courts in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas."
If backed up by the appeals court, Vitter’s opinion would underscore that residents arrested for minor traffic violations have a constitutional right not to be subject to unreasonable force after being restrained, according to Ahmed.
“Separately, such a decision would also emphasize the rights of minor children to peacefully record the police in their own driveways without threat of physical harm or retaliation from arresting officers,” she said.