Using dead man’s finger to unlock phone no help to Florida cops
LARGO, Fla. — Florida authorities went to a funeral home and attempted to use the dead man’s finger to unlock his phone as part of their investigation.
Linus Phillip was killed by a Largo police officer last month after they say he tried to drive away before an officer could search him.
Two detectives held the 30-year-old man’s hands up to the phone’s fingerprint sensor but could not unlock it. The man’s fiancee Victoria Armstrong said she felt violated and disrespected.
Legal experts mostly agreed the incident was legal but question whether it was appropriate.
Charles Rose, a professor at Stetson University College of Law, tells the Tampa Bay Times a deceased person can’t assert their Fourth Amendment protections because you can’t own property when you’re dead. But those rights could apply to whoever inherits it.
