Officers Have Qualified Immunity in Opioid Withdrawal Death

A group of detention officers can’t be held liable for a woman who died in custody while suffering opioid withdrawal, a federal appeals court said.

The officers can assert qualified immunity since there was no named officer who was connected to any act or omission contributing to Cynthia Rice’s death, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said in a Tuesday opinion reversing a lower court’s dismissal motion denial.

Rice was booked at the Cecil County Detention Center in Elkton, Md., in August 2020. She allegedly told unidentified officers and medical staff that she ...