Police sued over Orlando nightclub terror attack

ABCNewsA city police officer acting as a security guard didn't do his job and more than two dozen of his colleagues failed in their duties or violated the civil rights of surviving victims after the 2016 Orlando, Florida, nightclub massacre, according to a new federal lawsuit...

The lawsuit also lists 30 unidentified Orlando police officers who the plaintiffs allege either remained outside the nightclub while the shooting occurred or held witnesses against their will after they fled the massacre. The city of Orlando is listed as an additional defendant.

"While people, unarmed, innocent were inside a club getting absolutely massacred by a crazed gunman there were a bunch of people ... with guns, with the training and capability to take that shooter out,” Solomon Radner, attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, told ABC News.

“Instead of doing their job, they worried about themselves, they stayed outside, they worried only about their own safety, knowing that people were literally getting mowed down by the dozens just a few feet away.”

I think the suit against the guard is probably BS. Even if he screwed up in some fashion, he's not responsible for the attack. The civil rights claims against the responding police officers are more interesting.

Police have no legal duty to protect people. That's well established law. Do they have the legal authority to detain people in a situation like that? Maybe temporarily, but the suit claims 10 to 12 hours. That's stretching it a lot. So is confiscating cell phones (and presumably searching them) absent probable cause.

What seems to happen in these cases is that police completely lose their shit and panic while holding everyone in the area captive until the panic fades.

This entry was published Tue Jun 12 10:34:16 CDT 2018 by TriggerFinger and last updated 2018-06-12 10:34:16.0. [Tweet]

Follow @TriggerBlog