![]() ![]() Appalled by the shooting, Atlanta soon left the FBI task force, one of at least five cities that have stopped cooperating with a federal task force.There is a group of undercover officers that work every day to find and capture the most dangerous criminals in Milwaukee. Atchison was ultimately found and killed by Sung Kim, then an Atlanta policeman who had been cross-deputized as a federal officer. ![]() In January 2019, a joint task force between the Atlanta Police Department and the FBI was executing a federal warrant for Atchison’s arrest when he fled into a neighbor’s apartment. Appalling lack of accountabilityĬonsider the tragic case of Jimmy Atchison, a 21-year-old Black man who was fatally shot in the face while unarmed and hiding in a closet. Supreme Court ruled that Webster Bivens could sue the federal narcotics agents who strip-searched and shackled him for violating his Fourth Amendment rights. But in the decades since, the court has routinely curtailed Bivens claims, and now views expanding the decision as a "disfavored" judicial activity.īecause task force officers can be viewed as both state and federal officers, their hybrid status gives them ample maneuverability to avoid accountability. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, the U.S. That meant James could only sue the officers who almost killed him via a Bivens claim, which is still ongoing. Police beat me for no reason: Why can't my lawsuit move forward? King sued.Įven though the officers were in Michigan and were executing a warrant against a Michigan resident accused of breaking a Michigan state law, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the task force members were nevertheless acting as federal agents and could not be sued under Section 1983. While walking to a college internship in 2014, James was brutally assaulted in Michigan by an FBI agent and a Grand Rapids police officer who mistook him for a fugitive. James King learned this firsthand when two members of an FBI task force almost choked him to death. As a result, officers who serve on a federal task force are shielded by yet another form of immunity on top of qualified immunity. So aside from an increasingly narrow set of circumstances, federal officers often cannot be sued for violating the Constitution, no matter how egregious their conduct. Federal agents are free of liabilityĬongress never enacted a similar law for federal agents. ![]() Supreme Court created the doctrine of “ qualified immunity,” which protects all local, state and federal government employees from legal liability, unless they violated a “clearly established” right, a requirement that often means finding a precedent with practically identical facts. 'Blow his head off': Supreme Court must strip federal agents of absolute immunityĮver since Congress enacted the civil rights act of 1871, individuals have been able to sue state and local government officials who violate their constitutional rights (codified today as Section 1983).īut in 1982, the U.S. Local and state officers who serve on federal task forces are still on their employing agency’s payroll but can easily earn overtime paid by the federal government.Īnother fringe benefit is even more valuable: legal immunity from constitutional lawsuits. Watch Video: Supreme Court case: Stop shielding federal agents from civil liabilityĪs the Biden administration appears to be preparing an executive order to revive a police reform bill stalled in Congress, one key hurdle to holding law enforcement accountable has been overlooked: the seemingly unlimited power of joint task forces.ĭesigned as a way for local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to share resources and expand their jurisdiction, the nation’s more than 1,100 joint task forces include thousands of police officers, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers cross-deputized as federal agents who collaborate with federal officers.
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