Jackson Kuhl on a Court Decision Refusing Immunity to Police Over a Botched Raid

On a
Sunday afternoon in 2008, a tactical police team raided the Easton,
Connecticut house of Ronald Terebesi searching for a small amount
of personal drugs. While by day’s end the police discovered drug
paraphernalia and 0.02 ounces of a substance believed to be crack
cocaine, an officer also killed Terebesi’s unarmed guest, Gonzalo
Guizan (pictured), by discharging his Glock sidearm six times until
the weapon finally jammed.

Guizan’s estate and Terebesi filed civil suits against the
officers in the raid, although the estate later settled out of
court for $3.5 million. The defendants requested summary judgment
based on qualified immunity, which the district court for the most
part denied (the court agreed police had lawfully acquired the
search warrant and dismissed failure-to-train claims against the
town chiefs). The defendants appealed.

On Thursday, writes Jackson Kuhl, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Second District affirmed most of the lower court’s denial of
summary judgment.

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