JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More than 1,400 current and retired athletes, coaches and executives are pushing for a change when it comes to police officers.
Several Jacksonville Jaguars players are among the list of athletes who signed the petition, which asks Congress to pass a bill ending qualified immunity.
If approved, police officers would be subject to civil lawsuits in cases involving civil rights violations by way of police brutality and excessive force.
“What that does and what it will do is make cities responsible to hire officers that care, that do the right thing," said attorney John Phillips, who has a lot of experience dealing with civil cases against law enforcement in which police officers have been able to claim immunity.
Qualified immunity currently protects police officers from being personally liable for injuries or death as a result of excessive force, as long as officers were acting within the scope of their duties without violating an established law or department policy. But because so many police interactions are now caught on video, there are questions as to whether some officers are using qualified immunity to justify illegal acts of violence.
Phillips said qualified immunity was originally intended to give police the benefit of the doubt. For example, if an on-duty officer shot and killed someone, that officer was likely in harm’s way or was preventing the person they shot from harming others.
“The problem is qualified immunity has become absolute immunity, meaning police officers can’t get in trouble if the victim is dead and there’s no other evidence," Phillips said.
Phillips said those scenarios have led to a lot of alleged excessive force and police brutality civil cases against law enforcement being dropped in court. That’s where cellphones, surveillance cameras and body cameras come into play.
“When you have body cameras that are turned on and available, cellphone camera with footage like we’ve seen on Mr. (George) Floyd, those are the ones that bust qualified immunity. But, for every Mr. Floyd, there are 50 to 100 other cases where officers are given the benefit of the doubt," Phillips said.
Qualified immunity prevents offices from being sued in civil court unless they are fired from the police department. That’s what happened in 2016 when a surveillance camera recorded a rookie Jacksonville sheriff’s officer striking Mayra Martinez, who at the time was handcuffed. The officer was fired for his actions, which allowed Martinez and her attorney, Phillips, to file a civil lawsuit.
“The problem is he’s turning around and saying, ‘This is the way you trained me to make an arrest.’ And we’re going to get caught up in who’s qualified immune and for what," Phillips said.
So, the lawsuit is still pending.
News4Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson, who’s a retired police officer, said if Congress passes a law that eliminates qualified immunity, police officers everywhere will have to watch how they interact with the public.
“Everything you do from henceforth, if this legislation passes, is going to be scrutinized. It’s going to be under a microscope because of the injustices that have gone on for so long," Jefferson said.
Jefferson said if Congress puts an end to qualified immunity, there would likely be fewer cases of police brutality because an officer accused of brutality would be on the hook for civil damages along with the city.
He also said police unions across the United States will fight this measure to the bitter end to protect their officers.