Court revives lawsuit of Black pastor who was arrested while watering his neighbor's flowers

The police officers who arrested a Black pastor while he watered his neighbor's plants can be sued, a federal appeals court ruled Friday, reversing a lower court judge's decision to dismiss the pastor's lawsuit. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the three officers who arrested Michael Jennings in Childersburg, Alabama, lacked probable cause for the arrest and are therefore not shielded by qualified immunity. Qualified immunity protects officers from civil liability while performing their duties as long as their actions don’t violate clearly established law or constitutional rights which they should have known about.