{"id":39274,"date":"2026-05-26T14:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T14:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/?p=39274"},"modified":"2026-05-26T14:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T14:24:12","slug":"supreme-court-rejects-michigan-cops-bid-to-toss-out-an-excessive-force-claim-from-a-george-floyd-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/?p=39274","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court rejects Michigan cop&#8217;s bid to toss out an excessive force claim from a George Floyd protest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-1fffcc\" class=\"body-graf\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a Michigan police officer\u2019s attempt to evade an excessive force claim arising from an incident that took place during a protest in the aftermath of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/nbcblk\/9-minutes-29-seconds-george-floyd-was-killed-forever-changing-neighbor-rcna198063\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the George Floyd killing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><button class=\"styles_subscriptionCTA__LOUeY\" id=\"subscriptionCTA\" type=\"button\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"styles_textWrapper__vxvko\">\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB styles_textLarge__qlzwu\">Subscribe to read this story ad-free    <\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB\">Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/rockcms\/2026-01\/arrow-f55fa5.svg\" alt=\"arrow\" class=\"styles_arrow__tnruW\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/button><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-64e56e\" class=\"body-graf\">The court turned away an appeal brought by Phillip Reinink, a police officer in Grand Rapids, who deployed tear gas during a May 30, 2020, disturbance just days after Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-895dd4\" class=\"body-graf\">Reinink says he thought his launcher was loaded with a form of tear gas powder that can be fired directly at someone, but it was instead a canister designed to be fired into the air. The canister hit Sean Hart and injured his shoulder.<\/p>\n<section class=\"inline-video inline-video--in-body\" data-testid=\"inline-video\" id=\"anchor-bdecc7\">\n<div class=\"inline-video__background\">\n<div class=\"inline-video__player\">\n<div class=\"inline-video__badge-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"subscriber-badge styles_subscriberBadge__Lc_nV inline-video__subscriber-badge\" data-testid=\"subscriber-badge\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/rockcms\/2026-01\/asterisk-43f04b.svg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"styles_text__CtcQ0\">FOR<\/span><span class=\"styles_text__CtcQ0\">SUBSCRIBERS<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><button type=\"button\" class=\"inline-video-gate\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"Subscribe to watch this video\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"styles_gridStackWrapper__Z_AMc videoSlate styles_videoSlate__IvkAP\"><picture class=\"\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"focal\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1240px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-860x484,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_05\/nbc_sub_scoop_260523-9fg47r.jpg\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 758px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-1000x563,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_05\/nbc_sub_scoop_260523-9fg47r.jpg\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-760x428,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_05\/nbc_sub_scoop_260523-9fg47r.jpg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-760x428,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_05\/nbc_sub_scoop_260523-9fg47r.jpg\" alt=\"Supreme Court Edition, Chatrie v. United States: Can police use cellphone location data to catch suspects?\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p id=\"anchor-baa01b\" class=\"body-graf\"><em><strong>Tune in to<\/strong><\/em><em><strong> <\/strong><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL0tDb4jw6kPzLxdB2tytQtPsgenZNVQIY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><strong>Here\u2019s the Scoop\u2019s special Supreme Court Edition<\/strong><\/em><\/a><em><strong>, in which Senior Legal Correspondent Laura Jarrett goes deep on major cases.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-7024ed\" class=\"body-graf\">A police department investigation concluded that Reinink\u2019s use of force was unreasonable, and he was suspended for two days.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-6d45f0\" class=\"body-graf\">The case concerned the contentious legal doctrine of qualified immunity, which often protects police officers from civil rights claims alleging they violated individuals\u2019 constitutional rights.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8543fc\" class=\"body-graf\">While police officers frequently win on qualified immunity grounds, Reinink lost on that point, meaning the case against him can move forward. Ironically, in the aftermath of Floyd\u2019s death, one of the issues protesters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/06\/23\/us\/politics\/qualified-immunity.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">called for reform<\/a> on was qualified immunity. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/supreme-court\/five-years-george-floyds-death-calls-reform-qualified-immunity-mostly-rcna205338\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">That effort fizzled<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a3a7a5\" class=\"body-graf\">Two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, noted they would have ruled in favor of Reinink.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9371c2\" class=\"body-graf\">In March 2023, a federal judge in Michigan dismissed Hart\u2019s claim that Reinink had violated his rights under the Constitution\u2019s Fourth Amendment, which protects against unlawful searches and seizures.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-44699d\" class=\"body-graf\">But in May 2025, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Hart\u2019s favor, saying that the incident involved a use of deadly force regardless of whether Reinink intended to deploy such force.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2dfd78\" class=\"body-graf\">Qualified immunity did not apply because Reinink would have been on notice at the time that use of deadly force in such a situation was unlawful, the court found.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-962234\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">In a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/investigates\/special-report\/usa-police-immunity-scotus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> 2020 investigation<\/a>, Reuters found that police officers were increasingly fending off excessive force claims thanks to Supreme Court rulings that strengthened qualified immunity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/supreme-court\/supreme-court-rejects-michigan-cops-bid-toss-excessive-force-claim-geo-rcna264493\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a Michigan police officer\u2019s attempt to evade an excessive force claim arising from an incident that took place during a protest in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. The court turned [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[171],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-conditions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39276,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39274\/revisions\/39276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}