Supreme Court Revives Wrongful Death Suit Against St. Louis Police

 By Jess Bravin and Brent Kendall of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"The Supreme Court took a harder line against police misconduct Monday, ordering a lower court to reconsider whether St. Louis officers used excessive force in 2015 when kneeling on a shackled suspect who later died."

"In the excessive-force case, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis had dismissed a lawsuit filed by Nicholas Gilbert’s parents, concluding that the officers acted reasonably after finding Mr. Gilbert apparently attempting to hang himself while in a holding cell.

Several officers responded, but Mr. Gilbert, 5’3” and 160 pounds, resisted, and a struggle ensued. Ultimately, officers shackled Mr. Gilbert and held him on his stomach.

“Three officers held Gilbert’s limbs down at the shoulders, biceps, and legs. At least one other placed pressure on Gilbert’s back and torso. Gilbert tried to raise his chest, saying, ‘It hurts. Stop,’” the court’s unsigned opinion said.

Mr. Gilbert stopped struggling after 15 minutes and his breathing became abnormal. Officers couldn’t find a pulse, the court said.

Mr. Gilbert, who was white, died in a manner foreshadowing the killing of George Floyd, a Black suspect who died after Minneapolis police officer Derrick Chauvin knelt on his back for nearly 10 minutes in May 2020. Last week, a Minnesota state judge sentenced Mr. Chauvin to 22 ½ years imprisonment in Mr. Floyd’s murder. In March, the city of Minneapolis agreed to settle a lawsuit with Mr. Floyd’s family for $27 million."

"In 2019, a federal magistrate judge dismissed the Gilbert family’s lawsuit, finding that the St. Louis officers enjoyed qualified immunity, a doctrine that insulates officers from liability unless their alleged misconduct violates clearly established constitutional rights.

The Eighth Circuit went a step further, declaring that the officers’ actions were permissible responses to Mr. Gilbert’s behavior.

The Supreme Court ordered the Eighth Circuit to reconsider its ruling, because it was “unclear whether the court thought the use of a prone restraint—no matter the kind, intensity, duration, or surrounding circumstances—is per se constitutional so long as an individual appears to resist officers’ efforts to subdue him.”

Mr. Gilbert, who was 27 years old, had been arrested for trespassing in an abandoned building and failing to appear in response to a traffic ticket. Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, dissented, saying that if the Supreme Court was unwilling to let the Eighth Circuit decision stand, it should have taken the case itself rather than send it back for further proceedings. (Lombardo v. St. Louis)"