Beal v. Beller

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Section 1983 Action
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 14-2628
Decision Date: 
February 10, 2017
Federal District: 
E.D. Wisc.
Holding: 
Reversed and remanded

Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendants-police detectives’ motion for summary judgment in plaintiff’s section 1983 action alleging that defendants lacked justification under 4th Amendment to stop and frisk him, where defendants explained that they did so based on tip from informant. Record showed that state court had granted plaintiff’s motion to suppress drugs found in his pocket pursuant to said stop and frisk and had dismissed all charges against plaintiff. Moreover, Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment only after improperly making critical assumptions about facts that were unfavorable to plaintiff, when it concluded that: (1) informant had provided reliable information to defendants in past; (2) plaintiff made gesture to evade defendants; and (3) defendants had reasonable suspicion for purpose of detaining plaintiff and frisking him.