U.S. District Court Judge James O. Browning has granted qualified immunity to two Las Cruces Police Department officers who were sued in federal court for alleged Constitutional violations that happened in April 2016. Here is a statement from the city of Las Cruces:
On September 21, Browning specifically found that officers Matthew Dollar and Manuel Soto did not violate the Fourth Amendment rights of Ruben Favela, of Las Cruces. Additionally, Judge Browning granted a summary judgment in favor of the two officers for claims Favela made against them for battery and false imprisonment, under the New Mexico Tort Claims Act.
Browning will issue a Memorandum Opinion on a later date to fully detail his reasoning for granting the qualified immunity and summary judgment. Favela has until October 21 to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Qualified immunity protects government officials from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.
In May 2017, Favela filed a lawsuit in state District Court accusing Dollar and Soto of false arrest and search without challenging any of the grounds for probable cause, and coercing him to undergo a medical procedure that neither officer appeared to have had any part in. Favela also claimed Dollar and Soto detained him for an unreasonable amount of time and searched him without probable cause.
Favela contended those actions amounted to Fourth Amendment violations. The City and the officers removed the cause to federal court on May 18, 2017, and the parties stipulated to a dismissal of all claims against the City on May 30, 2017.