The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, en banc, has reversed an order of the District Court and ordered Dorian Johnson's suit against Officer Darren Wilson, the City of Ferguson, and the former Chief of Police dismissed. Johnson was the companion of Michael Brown in the notorious 2014 incident. Johnson claimed that Brown had his hands up at the time of the shooting. Riots ensued. A subsequent investigation by USDoJ found that Johnson's story was false, and Brown attacked Officer Wilson.

Despite being the cause of such horrific damage, Johnson actually sued, claiming that his Fourth Amendment rights were abridged. Because this case is decided pretrial, Johnson's version of events is assumed to be correct. The court held that even with that assumption, Johnson was never seized within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. He was simply ordered to stop walking down the middle of the street, which is illegal, and move to the sidewalk where pedestrians are supposed to walk.

The case is Johnson v. City of Ferguson, No. 16-1697. CJLF filed an amicus brief in support of the defendants.