Seven years ago, in Fort Collins, Colorado, the Fort Collins Police Department slammed this girl to the pavement. The obviously-unnecessary use of force was caught on video. A lawsuit was filed. The officer was denied qualified immunity. He appealed to the 10th Circuit. In a published opinion, the 10th Circuit found that the officer indeed used excessive force – a Fourth Amendment violation – but, since the plaintiff wasn’t able to point to a similar prior case finding a similar violation, that the officer gets qualified immunity. The remaining claims against the city were just settled for $300K.
Here’s the video (for some reason it won’t embed).
Media report here.
Raw footage here.