This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine or tool that law enforcement officers will use to avoid responsibility for killing othersโmost recently Black men in America. See, qualified immunity says there has not been law thatโs clearly established to prohibit the police officerโs behavior or response. If the law is not clearly established then they use that as a way to be immune from being responsible for their actions.
But hereโs what we are doing to fight it: We try to find case laws that are clearly established or create case laws or advocate for laws to be in place that are clearly defined, so they canโt claim qualified immunity. Another way is to take the police officer to court and get a judge to make a ruling that establishes case law that says you cannot do this!
Because there is pending litigation, Lynch refused to make comments about the Andrew Brown case specifically, but hereโs what we know from press conferences held by the district attorney and the complaint filed by Brownโs family: While deputies were serving an arrest warrant to Brown, the man fled the scene. He was shot in the back of the head with assault rifles and killed. So, his attorneys will try to prove that there was clearly established law that prohibits the police from shooting a person while fleeing officers.
Now, letโs get back and listen to Chance Lynch: How do we attack this qualified immunity? We try cases. We donโt settle just to settle. If itโs in the clientโs best interest and the client authorizes us to do so, so be it.
I donโt want to be overly optimistic with verdicts that happened with George Floyd and Daunte Wright. I think that it puts the police on notice that they arenโt free to do whatever they want to do. They arenโt free to treat people however they want to treat them. But Iโm not overly optimistic, and Iโm going to tell you why. The reason I say that is because whereas we had three verdicts, 300 cases are yet to be resolved.
I represent a man now in Beaumont, Texas. Christopher Shaw was arrested for public intoxication. When he walked inside the Jefferson County Jail, his hands were behind his back, handcuffed. Four officers restrained him. The arresting officer became irritated with him, grabbed my client, flipped him over in the air, and caused him to land on his neck, breaking his neck and several parts. And heโs paralyzed from the chest down. Itโs hard to believe. Heโs only 43. Heโs intoxicated, and the arresting officer is so irritated. If you ever see the video, it looks like he died. I mean, this man is never going to walk again. Forty three years old, and he needs help to feed himself.
So, Iโm being honest. When you look at Dante, Ahmaud, and George, I think thatโs a start in the right direction, but I canโt get over-excited when Iโve got a client whoโs in bed and canโt get up and move because look at the quality of life youโll have. My colleagues and I are fighting daily, but the cameras arenโt there all the time.
Doing the type of work we do, it changes something inside of you. Itโs not something that you can watch, turn off and eat dinner. It lights the fire inside you and makes you committed to doing everything that you possibly can to ensure that it doesnโt happen to anybody else.
Born and raised in Halifax County, North Carolina, Lynch is now the managing attorney at his own law firm, Lynch Law in North Carolina, and has taken on cases like Andrew Brown Jr.ย
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