Another denial of qualified immunity!

Effective policing by California Highway patrol has deteriorated
substantially since the days of Ponch and Jon. Do they even know
how to disco?

Note that this does not get rid of the need to perform a qualified immunity
analysis for the facts and circumstances of this case, just that the
analysis was improperly applied.

Doctrine of qualified immunity protects police officers from liability
unless they violated a federal statutory or constitutional right and the
unlawfulness of their conduct was clearly established at the time.

A reasonable jury could find the officer committed an unreasonable mistake
of fact or judgment. Therefore, this is a violation of clearly established
law that a person being confined by police or whose liberty is otherwise
restricted is entitled to medical treatment and qualified immumity does
not apply.

The moment she began questioning the driver, he wasn't free to go.

This is a horrible story. A driver had crashed. It was a one vehicle
crash. When the female CHP patrol officer arrived at the scene, with
her extensive medical training (sarcasm; she hadn't even taken the drug
recognition course), immediately assessed that the incoherent driver
in obvious physical distress was drug impaired and therefore a criminal
drug addict. The driver was arrested at the scene for driving under the
influence 45 minutes after the patrol officer arrived. The delay was
due to the officer administering field sobriety tests. The breathalyzer
test found 0.0 blood alchohol levels. Brought to the Orange County jail,
the duty nurse refuse to allow the prisoner to be admitted into custody
due to high blood pressure and directed that the driver be taken to
hospital. The police officer then transported the driver to hospital more
than two hours after the driver had arrived at the jail. She didn't use
lights and sirens to transport the driver, now a patient recognized as
needing emergency treatment. It was almost 4 hours after the officer had
arrived at the scene of the incident to get the driver to hospital. He
was diagnosed with a stroke.

It sounds like the driver had a stroke, then lost control and crashed.

The delay in getting to hospital led to permanent brain damage,
according to the P.I. lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed against CHP and the officer herself in state court,
then removed to federal district court. Lawsuit dismissed in summary
judgment for the state on qualified immunity grouds. A three-judge panel
for the Ninth Circuit removed the qualified immunity because the plaintiff
was denied the medical assistance he was entitled to. The case can proceed
to trial.

Steve Lehto video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VwPx0g_DOM