Virginia House Passes Ban On Police Choke Holds, Votes Down Qualified Immunity Reform

From the Virginia Mercury:

By Ned Oliver

September 4, 2020

The Virginia House of Delegates passed a wide-ranging package of police reform legislation Friday that would establish a blanket prohibition on choke holds and create criminal penalties for officers who fail to intervene in a colleague’s unlawful use of force.

The chamber also voted down a closely-watched measure to eliminate qualified immunity for police, which often shields officers from lawsuits alleging misconduct. Democratic leaders in the House and the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus listed the issue as a top priority heading into the special session that began last month.

“Really it boils down to — are we going to afford Virginians who find themselves on the business end of excessive force that ability to better and more fairly fight for some redress?” said Del. Jeff Bourne, D-Richmond, who proposed the measure, which would have allowed civil suits alleging constitutional violations to proceed in state court, effectively side-stepping the federal judicial doctrine.

The proposal drew strong opposition from law enforcement groups, who argued it would result in a flurry of frivolous lawsuits and make it difficult to recruit and retain officers. “All of us want to get rid of bad cops,” said Del. Jason Miyares, R-Virginia Beach. “The problem with this bill is it is going to have the unintended consequence of hurting good cops.”

Despite the early endorsement from Democratic leaders, the measure’s path to the House floor was turbulent, with the bill voted down in committee only to be revived the next day. On Friday, five Democrats voted with Republicans to kill the measure, David Bulova of Fairfax, Steve Heretick of Portsmouth, Martha Mugler of Hampton, Ibraheem Samirah of Fairfax, and Shelly Simonds of Newport News. Another three Democratic lawmakers abstained, Kelly Convirs-Fowler of Virginia Beach, Cliff Hayes of Chesapeake and Kaye Kory of Fairfax.

The remainder of House Democrat’s criminal justice package advanced, largely on party-line votes. The measures, which now head to the Senate, would:

• Ban searches based on an officer’s assertion that they smell marijuana and making several minor traffic violations, such as having tinted windows, a secondary offenses;

• Affirm the right of local commonwealths’ attorneys to dismiss charges they don’t wish to pursue without being required to explain their position to a judge;

• Institute a blanket prohibition of no-knock search warrants and neck restraints;

• Require police to report wrongdoing by other officers;

• Create a misdemeanor and felony charges that could be lodged against officers who don’t intervene if they see a colleague using force unlawfully; and

• Expand the process by which police officers can lose their state license to work in sworn law enforcement positions and create minimum standards that all police officers in the state must follow.

This is a breaking news post. Check back for updates.

This story was originally published by the Virginia Mercury. For more stories from the Virginia Mercury, visit VirginiaMercury.com.