Damon Root on Qualified Immunity for Cops Involved in Deadly Car Chases
Are the police allowed to use deadly force to end a high-speed car chase? The U.S. Supreme Court will grapple with that question next month when it hears oral arguments in the case of Plumhoff v. Rickard. As Senior Editor Damon Root explains, at issue is a 2004 incident that began with a traffic stop for a busted headlight and ended some 10 minutes later with multiple police officers firing a total of 15 rounds into the fleeing vehicle, killing the driver and his passenger, both of whom were unarmed.