Court: Cop who arrested an innocent citizen illegally has no immunity
Still in effect
A federal three-judge panel has now ruled that a policeman who illegally arrested an innocent citizen simply because that person had a concealed carry permit cannot claim qualified immunity from suit or prosecution.
The actions of the policemen, Nicholas Andrzejewski, were incredibly inappropriate and abusive.
On November 12, 2018, Basel Soukaneh’s life was significantly disrupted. Soukaneh was looking for a house he was considering purchasing, but the GPS on his phone, held in a holder on the dash of his car, had frozen. He was unfamiliar with the area. Soukaneh pulled over to correct the problem, left the engine running, and had the interior lights on. A Waterbury police officer quickly knocked on his window and demanded to see his driver’s license. Soukaneh handed him the license and his legal concealed carry permit, then told the officer where his firearm was located in the vehicle.
The officer, Nicholas Andrzejewski, grabbed Soukaneh, dragged him from the car, and violently handcuffed him, causing significant pain. Andrzejewski then stuffed Soukaneh in the back of his police car and searched Soukaneh’s car, including the trunk. Several other officers came to the scene. One of them put Soukaneh in an upright, seated position instead of where Andrzejewski had stuffed him, with his head near the floor. After another half hour, he was released. It is not clear if he was charged with a traffic violation.
Andrzejewski claimed in court that he should get immunity because of the presence of a gun and concealed carry permit. The lower courts disagreed, and he appealed. The Court of Appeals has now also disagreed with this absurd claim, and sent the case back for discovery and a trial.
Based on this ruling the cop now faces personal liability for his bad behavior. Soukaneh had done nothing wrong and had not been behaving suspiciously. More importantly, as an armed concealed carry holder he did exactly what a good citizen should do when questioned by a policemen, quickly telling the officer about his permit and firearms. There was no cause for Andrzejewski to then violently arrest him.
The court’s decision also means Andrzejewski will likely get no legal support from his police department, because it is now essentially free of liability. The fault lies entirely with the cop. Not only will he have to pay if he loses in court, the taxpayer will not be saddled with the bill, which has been the pattern in recent years in such cases.
Most important of all, the decision means bad cops can no longer claim that the mere presence of a firearm nullifies the fourth amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizures. It never did, and in fact, the amendment’s whole point was to allow citizens the right to armed protection from abusive and armed government officials like Andrzejewski.
This ruling also demonstrates a growing and laudable pattern. Increasingly the courts are nullifying the very concept of qualified immunity, which had been manufactured out of thin air by the courts and really has no basis in law. The whole point of the Bill of Rights and our entire legal system was to make bad individuals pay for their own bad behavior, not to pass the penalty to the taxpayer or make government officials immune from punishment.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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Still in effect
A federal three-judge panel has now ruled that a policeman who illegally arrested an innocent citizen simply because that person had a concealed carry permit cannot claim qualified immunity from suit or prosecution.
The actions of the policemen, Nicholas Andrzejewski, were incredibly inappropriate and abusive.
On November 12, 2018, Basel Soukaneh’s life was significantly disrupted. Soukaneh was looking for a house he was considering purchasing, but the GPS on his phone, held in a holder on the dash of his car, had frozen. He was unfamiliar with the area. Soukaneh pulled over to correct the problem, left the engine running, and had the interior lights on. A Waterbury police officer quickly knocked on his window and demanded to see his driver’s license. Soukaneh handed him the license and his legal concealed carry permit, then told the officer where his firearm was located in the vehicle.
The officer, Nicholas Andrzejewski, grabbed Soukaneh, dragged him from the car, and violently handcuffed him, causing significant pain. Andrzejewski then stuffed Soukaneh in the back of his police car and searched Soukaneh’s car, including the trunk. Several other officers came to the scene. One of them put Soukaneh in an upright, seated position instead of where Andrzejewski had stuffed him, with his head near the floor. After another half hour, he was released. It is not clear if he was charged with a traffic violation.
Andrzejewski claimed in court that he should get immunity because of the presence of a gun and concealed carry permit. The lower courts disagreed, and he appealed. The Court of Appeals has now also disagreed with this absurd claim, and sent the case back for discovery and a trial.
Based on this ruling the cop now faces personal liability for his bad behavior. Soukaneh had done nothing wrong and had not been behaving suspiciously. More importantly, as an armed concealed carry holder he did exactly what a good citizen should do when questioned by a policemen, quickly telling the officer about his permit and firearms. There was no cause for Andrzejewski to then violently arrest him.
The court’s decision also means Andrzejewski will likely get no legal support from his police department, because it is now essentially free of liability. The fault lies entirely with the cop. Not only will he have to pay if he loses in court, the taxpayer will not be saddled with the bill, which has been the pattern in recent years in such cases.
Most important of all, the decision means bad cops can no longer claim that the mere presence of a firearm nullifies the fourth amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizures. It never did, and in fact, the amendment’s whole point was to allow citizens the right to armed protection from abusive and armed government officials like Andrzejewski.
This ruling also demonstrates a growing and laudable pattern. Increasingly the courts are nullifying the very concept of qualified immunity, which had been manufactured out of thin air by the courts and really has no basis in law. The whole point of the Bill of Rights and our entire legal system was to make bad individuals pay for their own bad behavior, not to pass the penalty to the taxpayer or make government officials immune from punishment.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Related: Choices made, and consequences paid:
REASONABLE LINES IN LIFE, GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS
“What is normal? Do you as an individual under law still have a choice about what you personally are able to define for yourself and your family as being normal and good? The outlier radicals within the masses are telling you what you will think, say and do. They seek authoritarian rule over you and your self-determined self-interests.”
https://www.sigma3ioc.com/post/reasonable-lines-in-life-government-and-business
This is a step in the right direction. But it will not stop bad cops.
I would suggest that most police officers knew that they cannot take these kinds of actions like this guy.
As long as a bod cop thinks he can get away with it, he will.
Another issue is that the training for these small town PDs is lacking because they don’t have the funds to keep them in training. And with a smaller force, they need them on the street, not in a class room.
Waterbury, CT – where my mom was born – ain’t no small town, last census it had 114,403 residents
This can only help BLM financially wreck the lives of law enforcement
Hmm, now WHO ELSE has suffered an ILLEGAL ARREST by someone who was ACTING ILLEGALLY?? Oh yeah, that would be none other than PRESIDENT TRUMP who was arrested by the ILLEGALLY ACTING JACK SMITH! So, based on this ruling and the already made ruling that SMITH was ILLEGALLY operating, PRESIDENT TRUMP should be able to SUE Smith PERSONALLY AND include ALL THE OTHERS who PARTICIPATED in the ESTABLISHMENT of the ILLEGAL ACTIVITY!!
I’m not a lawyer nor have I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express lately, but it surely does seem FEASIBLE for this ruling to extend to the Mar a Lago invasion and subsequent arrest and persecution!!
It would be useful to know if Mr. Andrzejewski Had a pattern of previous bad behavior. I suspect that this incident is not a one-off…
Any opinions on the Sonya Massey shooting?