Dartavius Barnes was just driving through Springfield, Illinois, when police pulled him over for speeding.
When they searched his car, the officers found a bullet-shaped metal container. They thought it was drugs. Inside were the ashes of Ta’Naja, Barnes’s daughter, who had died at the age of 2. Without asking permission, they opened the sealed urn and tested it for narcotics, spilling some of the remains while the father cried out “no, no, no… that’s my daughter” through tears, all captured by the officers’ body cameras.
The result came back negative, as expected. Barnes recovered what remained of the urn, but he could never recover those grams of ashes that were lost forever. He ended up suing the Springfield Police Department and six officers for desecrating his daughter’s remains without consent. They denied any responsibility and asked the court for qualified immunity.