The facts (as determined by the trial court in this civil case): an RP called to report that his car had been vandalized, and that after the vandalism he had seen a Hispanic male in the parking lot, who later went into a particular apartment. The police went to that apartment, and a Hispanic male (Romero) opened the door and stepped outside. The police told him to take his hands out of his pockets, and he did so. He started to walk back into his apartment (he says it was to let the other people in the apartment know that the police were at the door). One cop grabbed him from behind, another did a leg sweep, and he hit the ground (chipping a tooth) and was arrested for evading an officer.
Incidentally, the New Mexico evasion statute is much easier to meet than anything I know of in Colorado, but I'm not really convinced that it applies to these facts.
The arrestee sued the police for arresting him without PC, and for excessive force. The police tried to claim qualified immunity, and claimed that they had reasonable suspicion to detain Romero based on the RP's complaint, and that since they had RS they had PC to arrest Romero for evading when he turned back toward the apartment (both arguments sound like absolute bullshit to me. RS is a pretty easy standard to meet, but if all you've got is some RP saying "I saw this dude a while after some shit happened," then you're not there). The district court denied qualified immunity (holding that our right to be free from arrest absent probable cause has been clearly established). The Tenth Circuit affirmed.
In this case, the police failed to establish that they had so much as reasonable suspicion to detain Romero, let alone probable cause to arrest him.
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