Supreme Court rejects retired officer's bid to curb legal immunity for police

As the nation wrestles with cases of police excessive force, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up a case involving legal immunity for federal officers.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied the appeal of a retired federal agent seeking to challenge sweeping legal immunity for police officers after he was injured during an arrest and later blocked from suing for damages. "This big guy grabbed my left hand and with his two hands, he jerked my arm as high as he could. Almost simultaneously, as this guy was jerking my arm, he put a chokehold on my throat very hard, very hurtful," Jose Oliva, 76, said of the 2016 incident at the El Paso, Texas, Veterans Administration hospital. "I told them I can’t -- I cannot breathe, let me go. I cannot breathe." Oliva, a Vietnam War veteran and longtime VA patient, underwent two surgeries to repair injuries he sustained. A federal appeals court rejected his bid to sue the officers for damages. The Supreme Court's decision to let that ruling stand -- the latest in a string of police immunity cases it has refused to take up in the past year -- suggests the justices are not eager to wade into a hot national debate over law enforcement and legal protections for officers that the court itself helped construct.