United States Court of Appeals

For the Eighth Circuit

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No. 20-1418

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Jeremy Rothe-Kushel

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellant

v.

Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City; Lauren Hoopes, Executive

Director, Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City; Joshua Stein,

Director of Fund Development, Jewish Community Foundation; Kim Rausch,

Director of Development, Truman Library Institute; Blair Howell Hawkins

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants

Detective Brent Parsons, In his individual capacity

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellee

Michael Satter, In his individual capacity; Detective Michael Curley, In his

individual capacity; Chief Richard C. Smith, In his official capacity; Leland

Shurin, In his official capacity as President and a member of the Board of Police

Commissioners; Nathan F. Garrett, In his official capacity as a member of the

Board of Police Commissioners; Mark Tolbert, In his official capacity as a

member of the Board of Police Commissioners; Don Wagner, In his official

capacity as a member of the Board of Police Commissioners; Mayor Sylvester

“Sly” James, In his official capacity as a member of the Board of Police Commissioners

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants

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Appeal from United States District Court 

for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City

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 Submitted: May 18, 2021

Filed: May 25, 2021

[Unpublished]

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Before GRUENDER, WOLLMAN, and ERICKSON, Circuit Judges. 

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PER CURIAM.

In this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, Jeremy Rothe-Kushel appeals the district

court’s1 grant of former Kansas City police officer Brent Parsons’s motion for

summary judgment on Rothe-Kushel’s claims that his arrest violated his rights under

the First and Fourth Amendments, and constituted a false arrest under state law. 

The district court concluded that Parsons, who was hired to provide off-duty

security for a lecture held at the Kansas City Public Library and sponsored in part by

the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City, was entitled to qualified

immunity because the arrest of Rothe-Kushel following his participation in a

question-and-answer session at the lecture and his ensuing interactions with security,

on charges of trespass and obstructing or resisting a public safety officer, was

supported by at least arguable probable cause. Having conducted a de novo review

of the record, see Peterson v. Kopp, 754 F.3d 594, 598 (8th Cir. 2014), we agree with

the district court that probable cause, or arguable probable cause, supported RotheKushel’s arrest and thereby defeated his claims, see Nieves v. Bartlett, 139 S. Ct.

1715, 1724-25 (2019) (plaintiff’s claim that officers violated his First Amendment

rights by arresting him in retaliation for his speech failed because officers had

probable cause to arrest him); Hoyland v. McMenomy, 869 F.3d 644, 652 (8th Cir.

1The Honorable Beth Phillips, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the

Western District of Missouri. 

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2017) (warrantless arrest is consistent with Fourth Amendment if supported by

probable cause, and officer is entitled to qualified immunity if there is at least

arguable probable cause, which is mistaken but objectively reasonable belief that

suspect committed criminal offense); Blue v. Harrah’s North Kansas City, LLC, 170

S.W.3d 466, 479 (Mo. Ct. App. 2005) (police officer who has probable cause to

believe that suspect has committed a crime is not liable for state law tort of false

arrest simply because suspect is later proven innocent or the charges are dismissed). 

We also decline to reach an argument Rothe-Kushel raises for the first time on

appeal, see Shelton v. ContiGroup Cos., 285 F.3d 640, 643 (8th Cir. 2002), but

nonetheless note the absence of objective evidence in the record to support his

contention that police officers generally refrain from arresting persons under similar

circumstances, within the narrow exception to the doctrine that probable cause defeats

a retaliatory arrest, as set forth in Nieves, 139 S. Ct. at 1727. 

The judgment is affirmed. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.

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