Cops Arrest Man For Refusing ID — Judge Finally Rules

For over 3 years I’ve been following the case of Demetrius Kern after he was arrested by Cleveland Heights, Ohio police officers for not producing his ID. Mr. Kern had been falsely arrested and charged after he was almost hit by a police cruiser driven by Officer Carly Lewis, whose video deposition was featured back in January of this year.

That arrest was made primarily at the direction of Officer Lewis’s supervisor, Sgt. Naftali Wolf, whose video deposition was featured in February of this year. At the end of that video, I mentioned that the civil lawsuit against them was still pending, and that the parties were waiting on the judge to rule on the officers’ request for qualified immunity. Well, that has now happened. The judge has ruled, and I have once again interviewed Mr. Kern’s civil rights lawyer, my friend Chris Wiest, about what just happened, and what happens next.

The Court’s Memorandum Order:

Video Deposition of the Supervisor Who Ordered the False Arrest of Demetrius Kern (update Part 2)

This is Part 2 of the update on the viral video arrest of Demetrius Kern from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, which I originally covered in July of 2023, along with Mr. Kern’s attorney, Chris Wiest. Mr. Kern had been falsely arrested and charged after he was almost hit by a police cruiser driven by Officer Carly Lewis, whose video deposition was featured in Part 1 of this update. That arrest was primarily at the direction of Officer Lewis’ supervisor, Sgt. Naftali Wolf, whose video deposition is detailed in this video.

Here is the original video from July, 2023.

Here is Part 1. And here is Part 2:

Here is the main brief by Mr. Kern’s attorneys that I walked you through in the video, using the video deposition excerpts they actually cited in the brief:

If you want to go further into the weeds, here is the motion for summary judgment filed by Defendant Wolf’s lawyers (to which the above brief is responding in opposition):

As I mentioned in the video, as of this date, the Court has not yet ruled on the pending motions. Which means that the case is just hanging in limbo with nothing happening, until such time as there is a ruling. The ruling will decide whether or not the lawsuit gets dismissed, or whether it proceeds to a jury trial. This is fairly unusual for a delay of this length to occur in federal court – though sometimes does happen).