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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Tear Gas Immunity

Police officers who shot tear gas canisters through the windows of a woman’s house during their search for a suspect are entitled to qualified immunity, the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday. 

PORTLAND, Ore. - Police officers who shot tear gas canisters through the windows of a woman’s house during their search for a suspect are entitled to qualified immunity, the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday. 

The officers thought they had permission to enter the woman’s house to apprehend a dangerous felon barricaded inside, and it was not “obvious” that they exceeded the scope of the woman’s consent by shooting tear gas canisters in an attempt to “flush the suspect out into the open,” according to the ruling.

The woman and her children could not live in the house for two months, because of damages caused by the search. 

Categories / Law

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