Lopera v. Town of Coventry, No. 09-2386 (1st Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseAfter a heated 2006 soccer game, the police searched all members of the mostly-Hispanic visiting team beside their bus, looking for items missing from the predominantly-white home team's locker room. The coach consented to the search, but later claimed coercion. The search was conducted in front of a hostile crowd, which, the plaintiffs claimed, yelled threats and racial insults. None of the missing items were found. The district court rejected civil rights claims and claims under Rhode Island law. The First Circuit affirmed. The officers were shielded by qualified immunity; a reasonable officer could conclude that the coach had authority to consent to the search and would not have necessarily have believed that the coach felt threatened by the crowd so that his ability to make a decision was impaired. The court noted that the officers did not act in a threatening manner and had restrained the crowd before conducting the search. The officers' actions were not motivated by race in violation of the Equal Protection Clause or state law. Even if the police had no more reason to search the team than to search the crowd, there was no evidence of racial motivation on the part of the officers.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on May 20, 2011.
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