CA11: Ptfs failed to prove pretext for arrest even if the officer was shown otherwise to maybe be racist

Plaintiffs tried to show that the defendant officer was racist, and their arrest was pretextual, relying in part on pretext. However, they fail on that score for lack of proof. After plaintiffs’ arrest the case was dismissed, and “Owens later resigned from the City of Darian police department after his supervisor learned that he had used racial slurs and exchanged racially inflammatory memes and jokes with a colleague at a previous job.” “Racism in policing is a particularly brutal facet of our country’s mistreatment of Black people. We condemn Owens’s racist remarks, jokes, and communications. [¶] For the reasons discussed above, however, we conclude that the district court did not err in granting Owens summary judgment.” Mahoney v. Owens, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 18821 (11th Cir. June 16, 2020).*