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CA7: No qualified immunity for officer who misread patrol car's computer screen in initiating arrest

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Arrest without factual basis based on police officer's failing to read the third line of the computer screen in the patrol car that the vehicle wanted was a motorcycle and not a passenger car was an arrest without qualified immunity. Phelan v. Village of Lyons, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 13571 (7th Cir. June 27, 2008): That said, Officer Dyas correctly notes that we may still take into account an officer's reasonable, but mistaken beliefs as to the facts establishing the existence of probable cause. See Saucier, 533 U.S. at 206. Officer Dyas essentially argues that based on the information he received, it was reasonable for him to mistakenly believe that Phelan's automobile was the stolen vehicle described in the LEADS report and thus that he had probable cause for the stop...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 30, 2008 (boomark / email).