US Supreme Court tosses out excessive force ruling in loss for police

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court on Monday gave fresh hope to the parents of a homeless man who died in police custody in Missouri in their lawsuit accusing officers of using excessive force in the moments before their son died handcuffed and shackled in a cell.

The justices, in an unsigned decision, threw out a lower court ruling that had concluded excessive force had not been used. Nicholas Gilbert, 27, died in 2015 in a St. Louis police holding cell after six officers restrained him for 15 minutes, handcuffing him, shackling his legs, and placing him face down on the ground.

Conservative Justices

Samuel Alito

, Clarence Thomas, and

Neil Gorsuch

dissented from the decision, which directed the lower court to reconsider the case.