Mordi v. Zeigler

Dist. Ct. erred in dismissing at screening stage under section 1915A plaintiff’s section 1983 action alleging that his 2009 arrest by defendants-police officers following traffic stop violated his 4^th Amendment rights, since defendants had stopped his car not because they had probable cause, but rather because they had engaged in racial profiling, and since they had impermissibly prolonged his stop in order to obtain drug-sniffing dog. While Dist. Ct. based its dismissal on belief that plaintiff could not raise either issue in section 1983 action because he could only raise them on direct appeal or in post-conviction petition, if said issues had not been previously waived by plaintiff’s guilty plea to drug charges arising out of instant arrest, plaintiff could raise both racial profiling and prolonged arrest issues in section 1983 action, since his lawsuit would not undermine his conviction. Moreover, plaintiff’s damages would be limited to monetary value of his loss of time during his arrest and any dignitary insult inflicted by racial profiling.