Eleventh Circuit grants immunity to officer who shot a child lying on the ground, while trying {Tr}

CATO INSTITUTE ^ | July 15, 2019 | Jay Schweikert

[mabarker1]

FULL HEADLINE:

Eleventh Circuit grants immunity to officer who shot a child lying on the ground, while trying to shoot a harmless dog

The Eleventh Circuit’s decision in Corbitt v. Vickers, handed down last week, constitutes one of the most grotesque and indefensible applications of the qualified immunity I’ve ever seen. The case involves a claim of excessive force against Michael Vickers, a deputy sheriff in Coffee County, Georgia, who shot a ten-year-old child lying on the ground, while repeatedly attempting to shoot a pet dog that wasn’t posing any threat. Without even deciding the constitutional question, a majority of the Eleventh Circuit panel granted qualified immunity to Vickers, simply because there was no case on point with this particular set of facts.

The key facts as alleged in the complaint are as follows: Vickers and other officers were pursuing a criminal suspect, Christopher Barnett, when Barnett wandered into the backyard of Amy Corbitt (who had no relation to Barnett). At the time, one adult and six minor children were in the yard, and the officers demanded they all get on the ground. Everyone immediately complied, and the police took Barnett into custody.

But then, the family’s pet dog Bruce walked into the scene. Without provocation or any immediate threat, Vickers fired his weapon at Bruce. His first shot missed, and Bruce retreated under the home. About ten seconds later, Bruce reappeared and approached his owners, and Vickers fired again – missing once more, but this time striking Corbitt’s ten-year-old child, who was at the time still lying on the ground only 18 inches away. The bullet tore through the back of the child’s knee, causing serious injuries. The child suffered severe pain and mental trauma and has to receive ongoing care from an orthopedic surgeon.

[mabarker1]

Remind Me to go AROUND this County in GA.

Pretty bad shot when you try for the Dog coming back out from underneath the House and you shoot the Child 18” away...

And Nobody needed no shooting since the perp was in custody.

My Uncle is spinning in His Grave when LEO’s do stupid crap like this...

[mabarker1]

Unfricking real...

[eyeamok]

Since he has been granted immunity, they should put up Billboards with his Picture and Name on it, WARNING Residents to keep their Children away or He Will SHOOT THEM!!!

[Red Badger]

I have relatives all around that county...............

[babble-on]

Cops freaking love to shoot dogs. I’m convinced they enjoy it.

[FlingWingFlyer]

The whole world has become one big circus.

[Leaning Right]

Okay, so the county cop gets immunity. That stinks. But let’s hope that the family sues the county into bankruptcy.

[ClearCase_guy]

We approach the point of No Justice but Mob Justice.

[Lurker]

He may be immune from prosecution but if that were my dog and child he wouldn’t be immune from me.

L

[mewzilla]

The county pols won’t take it in the shorts. But its taxpayers will.

[Da Coyote]

Practitioners or our legal system could not do a better job of destroying respect for their profession.

[mabarker1]

I’m hoping that they are not leo like this goon or worse one IS him.🙃

[Sans-Culotte]

Cops freaking love to shoot dogs. I’m convinced they enjoy it.

Not all cops, just scaredy-cat li'l pussies like the cop in this story.

[mabarker1]

Sounds good to Me!!!

[Leaning Right]

> The county pols won’t take it in the shorts. But its taxpayers will. <

Unfortunately, that’s true. But a lawsuit is the only way that family will get any justice at all.

[momincombatboots]

I think being unable to handle a 10 yr old and a dog did more for his rep than anything.
Honestly, the minority communities were telling the truth about police abuses of power.
Police forces with APCs? I am not a fan.

[null and void]

JBT Ping list

“Any police department (or university faculty, or military unit, etc.) is only as good as the worst psycho they tolerate.” ~ H/T RedStateRocker

The following just might apply to a majority of the "Justices" on this court:

Dr. Clarissa Cole on After Hours AM April 17, 2019

(Start at 78:31)

Dr. Cole: He had an epiphany; he was going to become a cop!

Eric Olsen: Ha ha ha what??? Uh, so, wait a minute, he was told by a former employer, if you ever, you better never get a job where you have influence over others, an authority position, or I’ll do whatever it takes to stop you. So wouldn’t becoming a cop kinda give him the ultimate authority over people?

Dr. Cole: Well, you know, lucky for all these other people, he kept moving from county to county so they weren’t really, uh, yeah, it is the ultimate authority he was just moving around so people wouldn’t know what he was doing, and I think getting out of the teaching profession they didn’t know what he was going to do.

He eventually applied to the Broward County Police Unit; he was rejected, though, because he failed the psychological test.

Eric Olsen: Oh that’s it he’s out of the career. No career for him He’s obviously unstable…

Dr. Cole: One, you know what? One would think so, and I actually used to perform these psych tests, and oh, do I have stories! You would think that it would even, it’s supposed to, let me tell you how it’s supposed to work, it’s supposed to prevent you from getting a job as a police officer or a prison guard.

Eric Olsen: Sure.

Dr. Cole: Does that always occur?

Eric Olsen: I would hope that it does.

Dr. Cole: No, no, no, I would say 50% of the time.

Eric Olsen: What?

Dr. Cole: It’s supposed to be a be a requirement, a REQUIREMENT, if you don’t pass, if you are not psychologically fit, you are not supposed to become a police officer or a prison guard. Does that actually preclude you from becoming a police officer even as long ago as what, 2005? No, I was doing them in 2005. Half of the people I rejected still became a cop.

Eric Olsen: How does that happen? How do they get around this?

Dr. Cole: Oh God there so many ways

Eric Olsen: Is it a buddy, a dad?

Dr. Cole: My son, he’s the son of my buddy, his dad a cop, he has to be a cop, he’s going to work in this county and we’re really understaffed, we need people, we know he failed, but it’s OK. The amount of excuses I heard to employ people.

And that’s the thing, just so the general public is aware, it’s difficult to fail, it’s difficult to fail one of these psychological…

Eric Olsen: What would cause one…

Dr. Cole: It’s not like the bar is so darned high that no one could pass, it’s nothing LIKE that, this test is just to find out is this person basically psychologically stable, are they non-sadistic, do they not have criminal or punishing tendencies or narcissistic tendencies themselves. Basically you’re trying to weed out anybody that has a like God complex; I’m judge, jury, and executioner. You want to get those people out of there. You’re trying to get people out of there that are just psychiatrically so unstable that they can’t control their emotions so, maybe some sort of bipolar thing going on or somebody that absolutely clearly has a personality disorder, like narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder. They are not

Eric Olsen: Checks and balances. Checks and balances to protect the general public from somebody that would not do well in that position.

Dr. Cole: And I was very, yeah, I was extremely, forgiving on these psychological tests even when somebody would sort of hit sort of some of those marks on the tests we would give, I would ask in interviews I would ask a ton of questions just to be very, very sure that this person was indeed failing the psychological exam, and I did not fail that many people, but the people I failed, please believe me that it was for extremely good reasons, extremely good reasons, and half of them became cops anyway.

Eric Olsen: So when they‘d leave would they go to a different state and do it?

Dr. Cole: Hah no, they would get hired by different a county, like a couple minutes over usually. Somebody knew them and “Now let’s pick them up.” "No, no, no, he has really strong sadistic tendencies and fantasies of rape and murder, you really shouldn’t hire him" and they would. And that’s exactly, I hope it’s different that was like I said, this was in 2005, it scared the heck out of me and I said I would never have a career doing that I don’t want to know that those people are becoming officers.

Eric Olsen: Tell me it’s in the minority, though, that this happens.

Dr. Cole: It’s in the minority that people fail, the majority of people passed. But those that do fail, like I said it’s for very good reason, but half of them. Half of them got picked up. So no, it’s not a minority a full 50% got hired.

Eric Olsen: That is truly a scary number out there that 50% of...

Dr. Cole: It’s a small sample, a small sample that was in a place that was economically depressed and needed officers…

(End at 83:29)

[mabarker1]

Any shooting My Dog(s) better get Me too before I shoot the idiot.

Mine are wonderful Guard Girls and can be intimidating but in reality it’s a Sloberfest one could drown in.

[csvset]

Wait, did he finally get to shoot the dog ? He must be so disappointed that he missed.