Pretty sure a cop can act in an official capacity outside her nominal jurisdiction if the circumstances warrant. In this case, she could assert she witnessed a possible threat to public safety and acted. If nothing else, she could claim she was making a citizen’s arrest.
It’s crap in this case, of course. No valid probable cause. But yeah, cops can be cops wherever they go.
Yeah, not sure that is actually in the law anywhere, but seems to be used as a “get out of jail free” card if the action is one that the higher-ups agree with. I suspect that had the demographic groups been reversed, you would hear no such argument.
Like all cops, her Badge of Impunity allows her to act without consequences. It doubles in size and power when the victim is of color, especially in a place like Jackson. Mindless respect for authority and corruption know nothing of state lines.
If Jesse Owens’ teen years had involved one more ill-placed encounter with a cop then the Nazis would have won the gold medal for the long jump in 1936.
Off duty cops almost are always armed, even when on vacation etc and, as this example shows, will intervene. Some times it’s a good thing, as you can find off duty cops saving lives, etc. Other times, not so much.
And it’s not just currently serving cops, but retired ones as well. Indeed they both have CCW privileges that no one else has. Some animals are more special.
I have no issues with a police officer from my state who is off duty potentially rushing into action for the “greater good”.
I DEFINITELY have an issue with one from another state doing it in my state.
States have some very varying degrees of law. And far too often a cop from your own state doesn’t know all the nuances, let alone one from a different state entirely.
Its not an ok practice across state lines…at all.
Good thing she didn’t drive by the high school athletic field. She would’ve been chasing down suspects all afternoon.
Is it a bad thing or a good thing that I read the BB headline and thought,“Cop arrests a 17-yr-old Hispanic on charges of running-for public office” ? that is, sadly, just as believable
I agree it shouldn’t be in this case. She was off the clock. I wouldn’t be too surprised if her local government was named, though. Can always throw in negligent supervision and training to rope them in. Hopefully not, though. The article said that a suit was filed against her, and didn’t mention anything about the department or jurisdiction also being sued, so maybe he’s just going after her. I didn’t see any obvious way online to look at civil filings in Teton County.
A lot of crimes have an intent component. It’s the difference between degrees of manslaughter and murder, for instance. If you’re careless and bump into someone and hurt them, it wouldn’t be charged as a crime, though you might face civil liability, whereas if you slam into someone on purpose, it becomes a crime or two, plus your civil liability.
I also read it that way.
IANAL, but, following US lawyers on Twitter, I get the distinct impression that qualified immunity applies unless the exact same conduct has previously been ruled a breach of constitutional rights. So, unless a previous teenager has been found to have had his or her rights violated because a vacationing cop arrested them at gunpoint for running for a bus, qualified immunity is likely to apply, if I understand correctly.
Is it also now reasonable to assume that a bishop is a pedo or that an MBA is a money launderer?
From what I saw in the article about his suit, there is no allegation of a constitutional rights violation, so, apples and oranges.
Edit- I do see one article now that does mention civil rights violations, so maybe it’s in there. If so, maybe the officer gets it moved from the county to federal court, and makes that argument, given the idiotic interpretation of this issue.
Wait, someone pulled a gun on a kid, "screamed ‘I have a gun and will shoot,’” and there were no good guys with guns available to save the day? In Wyoming? What is happening to America??
/s
Or at least until she ran out of targets. Or ammo.
It was Wyoming. If there had been any good guys with guns present, the <expletive> would already have been dead.
He’s not a government employee; he is a private attorney appointed to the case to avoid a conflict of interest situation (the kid was already facing trial for something which ironically is legal in Colorado).
Speaking of irony, Officer Schultz has a bachelors degree in…Hospitality.
This arrest took place quite some time ago (last summer), as did the decision to not prosecute; the new news item is that the victim is filing a civil suit.
Lol, almost made a mess of my keyboard.
