Case Abstracts
Brooks v. City of Aurora, Ill.
No. 10-3267, 2011 WL 2623507 (7th Cir. July 6, 2011). [No Audio]
Read the full article in Journal of: Illinois Institute for Local Government Law
Michael Brooks filed a civil rights action alleging the City of Aurora and three of its police officers violated his rights under Fourth Amendment and state law when they arrested him for driving on a suspended license and for resisting a peace officer. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2010 WL 3515814), held that officers had probable cause to believe that Mr. Brooks had committed the crime of resisting a peace officer and that the defendants were therefore entitled to summary judgment on the § 1983 false arrest claim. Brooks appealed. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court, holding that a reasonable police officer could have believed that Brooks had intentionally attempted to resist the officers efforts to arrest him and that Brooks evasion of insignificant detention by breaking free from the police officers initial brief grasp meant that a successful Fourth Amendment seizure did not occur until after Brooks was subsequently incapacitated by pepper spray. Also, Brooks remedy for alleged unlawful procurement of an arrest warrant was a claim for malicious prosecution under state law, not a federal constitutional claim for false arrest under § 1983.
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