Cop Immune From Suit by Passenger Arrested Over ID Refusal

A Florida police officer is entitled to qualified immunity from claims that he falsely arrested a passenger in a car for refusing to identify himself after a routine traffic stop, a divided Fifth Circuit panel ruled, reversing the lower court’s decisions.

James Dunn, a deputy with the Pasco County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, is immune from suit because US Supreme Court precedent didn’t clearly establish under the Fourth Amendment “that an officer cannot ask a passenger to identify himself” absent “reasonable suspicion or reason to believe that the passenger poses a risk to his safety,” Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat said.

The ...