After two years of waiting after oral arguments, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling on qualified immunity for a Waterbury, Connecticut police officer, deciding he wasn’t entitled to qualified immunity for violating the constitutionally protected rights of a gun owner.
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The area is known for drugs and prostitution, so the stopped car drew the attention of Officer Andrzejewski. The law enforcement officer approached the vehicle and demanded Soukaneh’s license. He would hand over his driver’s license and his gun permit. Mr. Soukaneh legally owned and carried a firearm in his car. He did not commit any crime and had a clean criminal record, but that didn’t matter to Andrzejewski.
Upon seeing the permit, Andrzejewski dragged Soukaneh out of the car and slammed him to the ground. The officer handcuffed the man and threw him into the back of his police cruiser. Andrzejewski searched Soukaneh’s car from bumper to bumper, including its trunk. When Andrzejewski didn’t turn up anything, Andrzejewski and seven other officers held Soukaneh in the back of the police cruiser for an additional 30 minutes. During this time, Andrzejewski consulted with another officer about what to write Soukaneh up for, showing they didn’t have a valid reason.
He shouldn't just get 'no qualified immunity', the dumb bastard should be fired. And prosecuted for the civil rights violation.
The judges also ruled that just because someone has a firearm or a gun permit does not give law enforcement probable cause to conduct a search of someone’s vehicle or arrest someone. Andrzejewski admitted in testimony that the firearms license was the only “probable cause” he had. The judges highlighted that if a firearm could be considered probable cause, then anyone carrying a gun would have to give up their Fourth Amendment protections. The liberal judges are no friend to gun owners, but even they believed this situation went too far.
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