Posted on 08/12/2026 8:29:24 PM PDT by Trump20162020
A court has denied a former Rusk County deputy’s appeal after a district court denied his request for qualified immunity.
Timothy Michael Randall, 29, of Price, was shot and killed by Sgt. Shane Iverson of the Rusk County Sheriff’s Office during a traffic stop on Sept. 14, 2022, in Turnertown. Iverson was later no-billed by a Rusk County grand jury, meaning the grand jury chose not to indict him.
Rusk County attorney Lee Correa filed the motion for summary judgment on the issue of qualified immunity in 2024. Qualified immunity protects government officials from liability for civil damages as long as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights.
Judge John D. Love, U.S. Magistrate for the Eastern District of Texas in Tyler, denied the application of qualified immunity, stating that a reasonable juror could find that the use of deadly force was excessive as the crimes were minor, non-violent ones. He noted Randall’s resistance was not physical towards Iverson and that he was unarmed with his hands empty and open while Iverson shot him from a kneeling position as Randall was trying to run away. He said, “a reasonable juror could conclude that Defendant Iversen’s actions were objectively unreasonable.”
Iverson then submitted an appeal to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The court dismissed the appeal, echoing several of Love’s conclusions.
“When we resolve all genuine disputes of material fact in Randall’s favor, the following factual scenario is plausible: a police officer deployed deadly force against a visibly empty-handed DWI suspect who was fleeing from the officer, with his palms facing out around chest-level, whom no reasonable officer would infer was armed based on the pat-down, and who prior to the officer’s deployment of deadly force had non-violently resisted the officer’s rapidly-evolving commands,” the document states.
(Excerpt) Read more at kltv.com ...
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5th Circuit: the Anti-9th.
The more I see of their rulings, the better I like them.
Put. The. Cop. In. PRISON!
.
If qualified immunity goes away, so will many law officers.
Too many various types of incidents can happen and all of them are open to dubious, uncertain determinations by officials or judges or juries.
If the job doesn’t protect the officer, the officer may choose to find other work.
No one would want to be a cop if they can’t shoot unarmed suspects b/c someone made them mad, or if they can’t assert their ego and authority over lesser beings like firemen.
I mean, who could stand operating under such uncertainty that one may be held accountable for their actions? /s
But a 5th amendment jury already no-billed him. How many juries does it take for the judge to find his so-called "reasonable" juror?
-PJ
“If qualified immunity goes away, so will many law officers.”
I’m okay with that.
L
This cop straight up murdered this guy. There was zero reason for him to pull his weapon, let alone shoot. QI should not be a license to kill.
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