Opinion ID: 2971441
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Assistant Police Chief Caldwell

Text: Tucker’s claim against Assistant Police Chief Caldwell is based upon events that occurred on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University, where Tucker was a student. In particular, Tucker complains about the fact that Officer Caldwell interviewed some of Tucker’s college professors and asked questions about him. According to Tucker, these interviews were conducted in retaliation for his distribution of the protected flyers. We disagree. The evidence unequivocally shows that Officer Caldwell’s investigation at the University, including his interviews of Tucker’s professors, were motivated by the appearance of an unprotected flyer on campus. For example, the chief of the University’s public safety department called the police when the unprotected flyer was discovered and requested that a police investigation be undertaken into the matter. Officer Caldwell responded to this call. He went to the University building in which the flyer was discovered, attempted to locate witnesses and met with the chief of public safety. Additionally, after discovering that Tucker took classes in that building, Officer Caldwell testified that he decided to interview some of his professors, along with “other people in the . . . [b]uilding[,]” in an attempt to locate “a witness that may have seen [Tucker] or others posting this fl[y]er” and to determine if he “had any beef” with the subject of the flyer (in this case, a senator). Officer Caldwell’s actions were part of a legitimate police investigation into the unprotected flyers, which resulted in Tucker’s indictment and criminal prosecution. Although Tucker baldly asserts that Officer Caldwell’s true motivation was a desire to retaliate against Tucker for distributing the protected flyers, that assertion is unsupported by the evidence. Tucker alleges that the investigative file for the unprotected flyers referred to and contained copies of his protected flyers, but this fact, even if true, would not lead a reasonable juror to conclude that the police investigation into Tucker was motivated by his protected activities. It makes sense that a criminal investigation into the distribution of illegal flyers might include references to other flyers – even if legal – that may have come from the same source. In short, because Tucker has failed to satisfy the third element of a First Amendment retaliation claim, Officer Caldwell is entitled to qualified immunity with respect to the investigation that he conducted at the University.