CA5: Unnecessarily inflicting pain during arrest violates Fourth Amendment for criminal prosecution of officer

Physical pain is enough injury for a Fourth Amendment violation of a suspect’s rights to support a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 242 for abusing an arrestee. The defendant was a Border Patrol officer. United States v. Diaz, 498 Fed. Appx. 407 (5th Cir. 2012):

Because determining whether a Fourth Amendment injury is more than de minimis depends on the context in which the injury arose, see id., we cannot categorically say that the district court may never charge the jury that “bodily injury” may include “physical pain.” Moreover, Diaz’s argument that including “physical pain” in the definition of “bodily injury” means including injuries that this circuit has held to be de minimis is foreclosed by Brugman. [United States v. Brugman, 364 F.3d 613 (5th Cir. 2004)]