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Officers Lacked Probable Cause to Arrest Plaintiff for "Disorderly Conduct"

By Shari Allison

Stearns v. Clarkson, 2010 WL 3191511 (8/13/10) (Kan) (Published) - The prosecutor and officers did not have a reasonable belief that probable cause existed to arrest the plaintiff for disorderly conduct for either of 2 instances: (1) the plaintiff, whose father had been killed by local law enforcement officers, knocked on the front door of an officer's home at 12:30 a.m. and when no one answered he left saying "later" ; (2) later, during a traffic stop, the plaintiff was loud, belligerent, smelled of alcohol and pointed a finger at an officer while using profanity. The plaintiff's words were not "fighting words," especially given they were addressed to a police officer, who is trained not to react violently. One officer was not liable because he only relied on another officer's assertion that there was probable cause...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on September 10, 2010 (boomark / email).