Jury rejects lawsuit against Ferguson police

A federal jury has rejected a lawsuit filed by a man who claimed Ferguson police beat him while he was handcuffed in 2009.

The jury on Wednesday ruled in favor of police and against Henry M. Davis, formerly of St. Charles. Peter Dunne, one of the lawyers for the officers, said jurors deliberated just an hour. He also said that while they found in favor of Officer Michael White in his battery counterclaim against Davis, they did not award White any money.

The lawsuit, filed in 2010, claimed Davis suffered a concussion and a cut on his head after being arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated in 2009. Officer Michael White told jurors this week it was Davis who lashed out first, resisting while being placed in a cell. Police denied he was struck after he was taken to the floor and cuffed.

It was the second time Davis’ lawsuit has been denied in court.

In 2014, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nannette Baker granted a motion for judgment in favor of one of the officers named in the suit, John Beaird, saying there was no evidence that his conduct had risen to the “conscience-shocking level” required to find against him. She ruled that Davis’ injuries were minor enough for the officers to escape liability for a constitutional violation.

But a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals reversed Baker’s decision last summer, saying “no case acknowledging this issue has held that serious injuries such as ‘a concussion, scalp laceration, and bruising’ can be considered de minimis (too trivial to consider) as a matter of law for qualified immunity purposes.”