Judge: SWAT team can't claim immunity after using excessive force

Police might be able to bash your home's door down and summarily execute you, but that doesn't mean they can use their qualified immunity to escape even the possibility of legal redress.On May 18, 2008, a heavily armed SWAT - or special weapons and tactics - team unit knocked down Terebesi's door, threw stun flash grenades into his Easton home and fatally shot 33-year-old Gonzalo Guizan of Norfolk as the two men watched television. ...
In a 51-page ruling that upholds a lower court decision, the appeals court said the police responded with unnecessary and inappropriate force and under the circumstances, are not protected by "qualified immunity" from the lawsuits.

"The plaintiffs presented evidence indicating that all of the defendants understood that the warrant was for a small amount of drugs meant only for personal use. The basis for the officers' entry, in other words, was related to an offense that was neither grave nor violent," the appeals court wrote in a decision released late Monday.

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