Published on: Friday, July 7, 2023
It is obviously unreasonable for an off-duty, out-of-uniform police officer to lose his temper on the road, follow another motorist home, box him in his driveway, scream profanities, all before identifying himself as law enforcement, and point a gun at the nonthreatening motorist. At least so says the Tenth Circuit, reversing a grant of qualified immunity to a (now-former) Chaves County, N.M. sheriff's deputy David Bradshaw. Claims against the county, which hired him in spite of his history of volatile behavior, are also on the table, too.
The case is Rosales v. Bradshaw, No. 22-2027 (10th Cir. July 5, 2023).