A new ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court could provide victims of excessive force by an officer a clear path to receiving justice.
In a 5-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a New Mexico woman who is seeking to sue two officers who she said violated her Fourth Amendment right which prohibits law enforcement from conducting unreasonable searches and seizures, according to Reuters.
Roxanne Torres was sitting in her car in 2014 when two people approached her car with a firearm. She then drove off, mistakenly thinking she was escaping a carjacking and was shot twice by the police, CNN reported. She, however, was not immediately apprehended on the scene by officers.
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In a civil rights lawsuit, Torres said the officers prevented her right to be free from unreasonable seizures when she was shot twice in the back.
The justices subsequently argued whether using lethal force to restrain a person, even if the person is not physically detained, can be categorized as a “seizure.”
Now, under the new ruling, a person does not have to be physically detained by officers to sue under the Fourth Amendment.
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