Using Over Watch Cameras During Protests

This post is offered as a discussion topic only and does not represent legal advice. Officers must refer to the laws in their own State as well as their agency's policies, which can be more restrictive on officers than the law requires.

Scenario: On September 4, 2024, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided that an officer would not receive qualified immunity from a use of force that occurred during the George Floyd protests in 2020. The case is called Sanderlin v. Dwyer. During the incident officers issued dispersal orders to the crowd who began throwing objects at the officers. At one point some protesters pushed a large dumpster into an intersection and hid behind it. An officer who was carrying a 40mm launcher said he could see the protesters with pain cans in their hands about to throw the cans at officer. Another protester holding a large sign placed himself between the dumpster and officers, thus blocking two subjects with the paint cans. The officer told the man to move out of the way or he would get hit with the 40mm. The man did not move and the officer fired. The man was hit in the groin and received severe injuries requiring emergency surgery.

Answer: Although the officer was wearing a body camera, the angle of the camera did not capture the two protesters behind the dumpster. Therefore, there was a dispute about whether or not the man who was hit with the 40mm was protecting two people who were about to attack officers. Because there was no clear footage of this, the court said, "Ultimately, on this record, the reasonableness of the force used by (the officer) thus turns on how the jury interprets the video footage, and whether the jury credits (the officer's) testimony that (the man) was blocking police from targeting the two individuals behind the dumpster."

In many of these cases coming out of the George Floyd Protests, we see that body camera footage is not enough to dispel claims made against officers. Whenever possible, agencies should consider having high-definition overwatch cameras, or even drones, recording large areas where officers are operating. Having cameras at higher elevation than chest level and that can be digitally zoomed in later to show the actions of individuals would go a long way toward stopping many of these lawsuits.



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