This stuff ends when:
1) Qualified immunity is abolished.
2) Judgments are paid by the offending public servants, not by the taxpayers.
3) The offending public servants do serious jail time.
And in this case, the cop's sentence should include his lugging the arrested guy's trash barrels off the street and placed behind the gate on trash days for the rest of his life.
I think honking at a cop must be genetic thing that ignites road rage. I did that to one in my small town while he was at a stop sign with his attention elsewhere. He hopped out of the cruiser and wanted to give me a ration of shite until he recognized me. He's now our police chief - not a bad guy, but definitely his temper needs tweaking.
I would retain qualified immunity for “heat of the moment” instances only. That is, when a cop must make a quick decision while under pressure.
Otherwise, I agree with you. Way too often cops casually do terrible things because they know they won’t be held personally accountable.
A jury should be able to easily tell the difference between heat of the moment behavior and casual behavior. If it’s the latter, make the cop personally liable for his trash behavior.
Same as if a doctor casually harms a patient.