UPDATE: THE PEOPLE OF DES MOINES FORK OVER $125,000 TO SETTLE THIS CASE
Oral Arguments in the case of Robbins v Des Moines (No 19 2492) in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, heard Sept. 9, 2020.
In the federal Eighth Circuit court decision the defendant-cops were permitted to maintain their qualified immunity status for a couple reasons: 1. Scott Greene, a convicted cop killer, had filmed an encounter with police once, in another part of the city, 19 days before stalking and murdering two officers in Des Moines and Urbandale in the dark of night; and 2. Mr. Robbins was being cagey about the reason he filmed officers and their illegally parked cars back in May of 2018. However, based on the same record, the appeals court rejected the city’s motion for “qualified immunity” on the Fourth Amendment claim, acknowledging Robbins had committed no crime to justify the arrest & lengthy property seizure (citing State v. Smithson, that “interference with official acts” requires active interference). As a result of the appeals court decision, the district court then granted Robbins summary judgment on his Fourth-Amendment claim, pressuring the city to finally settle the case in December, 2022, causing the people of Des Moines to fork over $125,000. As is settlement boilerplate, the city gets to maintain that its officers dindunuffin. And as far as we can see, none of the 8-10 officers that made the scene that day, received any discipline for failing to uphold the constitutions of the United States and the State of Iowa, per their oaths of office. One would hope at least one of the cops, especially one of the two lieutenants, or the sergeant, or the detective, would have stepped up to say this isn’t right, Robbins acted well within the law, let’s give him his property back. But, alas, the silence was deafening. After several opportunities to walk it back, after rejecting an offer to settle for $25,000, our city instead dug in its heels and chose to do battle against one of its residents, armed with the full knowledge of the police misconduct they were defending, hoping to hide behind “qualified immunity” from accountability. It’s shameful and disgusting. And to put a cherry on the matter, more boilerplate filth from City Manager Scott Sanders’ office: “We disagree with the court,” essentially siding with his subordinates and against the residents he purports to serve. We’ll remember that Sanders serves at the pleasure of the city council when re-election season rolls back around.
