NEW ORLEANS — Two Gretna, Louisiana, police officers who beat and tased an unarmed man with paranoid schizophrenia — he became unresponsive and died two days later — are not entitled to qualified immunity on excessive-force claims, the Fifth Circuit ruled. The man, who was not suspected of any crime and did not struggle against the officers, called for his mother and pleaded for someone to “call the real police” as he sustained 26 blunt-force injuries.
Nine bystander officers who observed the incident but did not attempt to stop it are entitled to immunity, the court ruled.
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