Washington – Video of a police chase that left a Georgia teen paralyzed – the “scariest chase I’ve seen since ‘The French Connection,”‘ one Supreme Court justice said – played a key role Monday in arguments over the actions of a sheriff’s deputy.
A camera in the dashboard of the police cruiser that rammed Victor Harris’ black Cadillac captured the sickening moment when Harris lost control and veered down an embankment.
Harris sued former Coweta County sheriff’s deputy Timothy Scott, accusing the deputy of violating his civil rights. The court is deciding whether the suit can proceed in its first case in 20 years on police use of deadly force to stop fleeing suspects.
Several justices showed a close interest in the chase that preceded the 2001 crash, with an eye toward justifying Scott’s action as reasonable to prevent injury to other drivers and pedestrians.
When Harris’ lawyer, Craig Jones of Atlanta, said his client was driving fast but not erratically, even using his turn signal before passing other cars, the justices were unimpressed.
“He used the turning signal. That’s like the strangler who observes the ‘no smoking’ sign,” Justice Anthony Kennedy said.
Harris won rulings from two lower courts that he could take his lawsuit to trial. Jones said police could have called off the chase and arrested Harris, who was being pursued solely for speeding, at a later date.
Jones cited the views of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals portraying Harris’ driving as under control despite the high speed.
Also Monday, the Supreme Court accepted these appeals:
A challenge to Washington state’s nonpartisan primary system, in which candidates can state their party affiliation and the top two finishers advance to the general election even if they are from the same party.
A dispute over what constitutes the use of a gun during a drug buy. Federal appeals courts are split over whether a gun provided in exchange for drugs amounts to the use of a gun, triggering a mandatory prison term of at least five years.
A case from New York over whether taxpayers must reimburse parents who enrolled their learning-disabled student in private school after deciding public schools were unable to meet the child’s needs.
The court declined an appeal from Blackwater Security Consulting, a private security company, to have federal courts, rather than North Carolina state courts, handle a lawsuit stemming from the slaying of four of its guards by an angry mob in Iraq.
