(Washington, DC) — The Supreme Court is ordering a lower court to re-evaluate whether a Minneapolis police officer can be sued for blinding a teenager during protests after the death of George Floyd in 2020. Ethan Marks was hit in the face by a chemical projectile fired by Officer Benjamin Bauer, who argued he was trying to use less-than-lethal force to stop what he said was an assault on a fellow officer. Lower courts cleared the way allowing Bauer to face a lawsuit, but the Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated those decisions, ordering the Court of Appeals to take another look. The high court cited one of their recent unanimous decisions about how cases involving police officer violence are considered.
Lawyers for Bauer painted the move as a win, but attorneys for Marks say the evidence of misconduct will still be there when the court takes another look.
