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The Alabama Supreme Court unanimously directed a Dallas County Circuit Court to issue summary judgment in favor of a former Selma Police Chief and the arresting detective who were sued over the arrest of Faya Rose Toure in 2018.

In a lawsuit filed in 2019, Toure sued Selma Police Chief Spencer Collier and SPD officer Devon McGuire “in relation to her arrest for charges of fourth-degree theft of property and attempting to elude,” stated the Supreme Court ruling released Friday. The City of Selma was also originally named in the suit.

The suit stems from a July 16, 2018, incident, in which McGuire, who was employed as a police officer, was traveling in an unmarked patrol vehicle and observed Toure remove a campaign sign from property adjacent to Tabernacle Baptist Church. McGuire’s testimony said he witnessed Toure place the sign in her vehicle and drive off.

The evidence submitted by the officers included body camera footage of the incident. Collier testified that the Selma Police Department had held a press conference relating to Toure’s arrest in response to multiple inquiries from different media outlets and to respond to a press conference that Toure’s husband, retired State Sen. Hank Sanders, held regarding the incident.

The court entered a summary judgment in favor of the city but denied the motion for a summary judgment as to McGuire and Collier. Collier and McGuire then appealed the decision.

Chief Justice Sarah H. Stewart wrote the opinion for the court. All of the other justices concurred.

“McGuire and Collier presented evidence in support of their summary-judgment motion demonstrating that they were engaged in conduct that would entitle them to peace-officer and State-agent immunity in relation to Toure’s claims against them,” Stewart wrote in the decision. “Because Toure failed to present substantial evidence establishing that McGuire’s or Collier’s conduct fell within one of the exceptions to that immunity, the trial court should have entered a summary judgment in McGuire’s and Collier’s favor. Accordingly, we grant McGuire and Collier’s petition and issue a writ directing the trial court to enter a summary judgment on the basis of immunity in favor of McGuire and Collier.”

The case will be sent back to Dallas County Circuit Court, where the judge has been directed to enter a summary judgment in favor of Collier and McGuire.