suspect initiates interview after preliminary hearing
Facts Around five o’clock in the morning on November 25, 2018, residents of Mississippi Street in Grenada reported hearing many gunshots. Witnesses saw a tall, slender man firing shots, and it sounded like more than one person was shooting. At a nearby intersection, Deputy Joey Ward stopped a vehicle that he later learned matched the […]
Allegation of body slam after being handcuffed
Facts (If you are new to 1983 actions, click here for help) Deanna Thomas erected a tent in Laketown Park in Kenner, Louisiana. On April 6, 2020, two officers from the East Jefferson Levee District Police Department—Officer Tewis and Lieutenant Arnold— approached Thomas, explained that she was unlawfully occupying a public space, and told her […]
stop, extension of stop, and search of vehicle proper
Facts In May 2020, Officer Colby Terrell of the Oxford Police Department (OPD) pulled Anthony Smith over on Highway 6 near Old Taylor Road in Oxford. Terrell testified that he observed Smith’s Chevrolet Tahoe veer off the right side of the road. Terrell followed Smith and turned on his dash camera. As they approached Old […]
there was probable cause to arrest second amendment protesters
Facts (If you are new to 1983 actions, click here for help) Christopher Grisham and James Everard are self-styled “Second Amendment protestors” who had been involved in several protests advocating for the repeal of a City ordinance that governs the unauthorized carrying of loaded firearms. This case arises out of their arrests on March 27, […]
Allegations of manipulating faith during questioning did not rise to level of coercive police tactics
Facts In 2019 and 2020, law enforcement learned that two IP addresses associated with the Denison Church of the Nazarene and its pastor, David Pettigrew, uploaded images of child pornography online. After acquiring search warrants for Denison Church and Pettigrew’s home, officers found a Maxtor hard drive in Pettigrew’s office at the church. The hard […]
Officer detection of odor of marijuana sufficient regardless of whether marijuana ever found
Facts (If you are new to 1983 actions, click here for help) On December 13, 2020, around 7:00 a.m., Quentin Terrell was driving a Pontiac Grand Prix in Woodworth, Louisiana when he was pulled over by Chief of Police James Gonzales. During the stop, Gonzales’s body camera (“body cam”) and dashboard camera (“dash cam”) are […]