WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave fresh hope to the parents of a homeless man who died in police custody in Missouri in their lawsuit accusing officers of using excessive force in the moments before their son died handcuffed and shackled in a cell.
The justices, in an unsigned decision, threw out a lower court ruling that had concluded excessive force had not been used. Nicholas Gilbert, 27, died in 2015 in a St. Louis police holding cell after six officers restrained him for 15 minutes, handcuffing him, shackling his legs and placing him face down on the ground.
Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the decision, which directed the lower court to reconsider the case.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
