DISCLAIMER: Any unofficial case summaries below are prepared by the clerk's office
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193232P.pdf 04/07/2021 Oakley Engesser v. Edward Fox
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 19-3232
U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota - Rapid City
[PUBLISHED] [Stras, Author, with Colloton and Grasz, Circuit Judges]
Civil case - Civil rights.In action alleging defendants had violated
plaintiff's civil rights by recklessly investigating a fatal one-car
accident and prosecuting him as the driver, there was no evidence to show
defendant Trooper Fox recklessly or purposefully ignored two eyewitnesses
which indicated the passenger in the vehicle may have been driving as the
statements did not fit with the evidence at the scene of the crime and any
failure to undertake further questioning or investigation was at most
negligence and did not shock the conscience; defendant officers' decision
to leave the car at an impound lot did not rise to the level of reckless
or purposeful misconduct and their actions did not demonstrate that the
officers recklessly or purposefully destroyed evidence; because plaintiff
cannot establish a constitutional violation on the part of the officers,
his claim for supervisory liability fails, as does his conspiracy claim.
Judge Colloton, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.