The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures by police. Seems powerful, right? But here is a non-exhaustive list of "reasonable" bases for police to stop people, which can ratchet up very, very quickly into police using deadly force . . .
making too much eye contact, making not enough eye contact, "furtive" movements, any traffic violation, any perceived traffic violation even if there was none, a "bulge" in a puffy jacket (what even is that???), failing to stand up quickly enough when tying your shoe . . .
A lot of (white) ppl say, why did he run? If he had only cooperated none of this would have happened. Tell that to anyone who has ever been mistreated in custody, wrongfully jailed, held without bail, wrongfully convicted.
Let's say your rights were violated and you want to sue. Good luck. More SCOTUS law makes it very difficult. You have to have a clearly established C'l right & police must be on notice that their specific behavior violated it bc a pile of legal decisions says so.
When I teach the Fourth Amendment in criminal procedure, I teach the doctrine--the constitutional right and the slew of exceptions that gut it. I teach it because it is the law. I teach it because it is on the bar. Then I tell my students, "This is trash."
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