A federal appeals court has denied qualified immunity to three Des Moines, Iowa, police officers who were found liable for violating a man’s constitutional rights after stopping his car based largely on having difficulty reading his temporary license plate tag.
“The officers argue that there is no clearly established right to drive with a nervous passenger through a high crime neighborhood with a temporary tag that is unable to be read by officers following the vehicle,” wrote the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in its decision affirming summary judgment in favor of the driver, Jared Clinton, on both his Fourth Amendment claim and certain state law claims.
