TEMPE, AZ — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will decide an unprecedented lawsuit involving Tempe police officers who removed their body cameras to use them as makeshift surveillance cameras and recorded a mostly naked woman for hours as she was handcuffed to a hospital bed.
The woman sued the Tempe Police Department, but the case was dismissed after a judge ruled the officers had qualified immunity.
The court ruling stated the officers' "alleged conduct" was not "egregious enough" for a reasonable officer to know they shouldn't do it.
That standard was the key focus of the October 28th hearing before the appeal court’s three-judge panel, who questioned both sides about whether there was “clearly established law” that would let officers know that action would be unconstitutional.
The judges indicated they were not aware of prior cases with similar circumstances.
The incident at the center of the investigation happened in December 2022 inside the Tempe St. Luke's Emergency Room, where two officers set their body cameras in the corner of a room and recorded an in-custody woman's exposed body for approximately three hours.
Because of ABC15's reporting, the Tempe Police Department changed its body-worn camera policy.
The updated policy now explicitly states that body cameras need to stay on the body.
The policy change now explicitly prohibits officers from removing their body cameras and using them as stationary recording devices.
The updated policy states: "Officers shall not remove, reposition, or affix the BWC to any object or location other than their person for the purpose of recording an event, person, interview, arrestee, or other law enforcement activity."
The previous policy only addressed where on an officer's body the camera should be worn.
In defense interviews obtained by ABC15, Officer Marra Guajardo, who was a field training officer, described removing her body camera at hospitals as routine.
"That's a standard practice of mine at the hospital — to set the body camera. That way the body camera doesn't have to be looking at, say, anything investigative for other cases that I'm working at, maybe in front of me on my laptop," Guajardo said.
Tempe cleared both officers of any wrongdoing. But records show the department's internal investigators did not interview the involved officers.
This digital article was produced with the assistance of AI and converted to this platform based on the broadcast story written and reported by ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing (Dave@abc15.com). Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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