$6.5M Award for Man Badly Hurt by Missouri Police Taser Upheld June 3, 2021
A former Independence, Missouri, police officer was not protected by qualified immunity after he seriously injured a teenager with a Taser and by dropping him face down on the pavement, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $6.5 million jury verdict against former officer Timothy Runnels over the confrontation with Bryce Masters during a traffic stop in 2014, KCUR reported.
The court ruled Runnels had violated Masters’ rights by using a Taser on him for up to 20 seconds after Masters, who was 17 at the time, refused to get out of his car. Runnels dragged the unconscious teenager several feet before dropping him on the pavement.
The jury found that Officer Timothy Runnels continued taser pull was intentional and malicious.
After tasing Bryce Masters for about 20 seconds, Timothy Runnels dragged the unconscious teen several feet before dropping him face-down on the pavement.
Government officials enjoy broad protection against federal lawsuits, but a federal appeals court last week refused to extend it to an Independence police officer who was tagged with a $6.5 million jury verdict in a police brutality case.
In a rare instance of a court denying qualified immunity to a government official, the 8
th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the policeman, Timothy Runnels, had violated the teen victim’s right to be free from “an excessive, prolonged use” of a Taser.