The federal appeals court based in Denver agreed with a trial judge on Tuesday that a jury must decide whether two Colorado Springs police officers unlawfully arrested and searched a woman who, moments prior, helped resuscitate a man who had stopped breathing from a drug overdose.

Officers Christopher Pryor and Robert McCafferty argued U.S. District Court Senior Judge Christine M. Arguello wrongly denied them immunity for their arrest of Sasha Cronick for failing to disperse from a crime scene. Consequently, the officers asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit to overturn Arguello’s order green-lighting a trial.

But a three-judge panel agreed the central issue was whether the officers had probable cause to believe Cronick was violating the law, and Arguello correctly ruled a jury must make that call.

“The district court determined genuine issues of material fact existed regarding whether Ms. Cronick was obstructing the scene, whether Officer Pryor issued an order, and whether Ms. Cronick disobeyed an order,” wrote Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich in the panel’s April 30 opinion.

He added that if Cronick’s version of events were true, “a reasonable officer under these circumstances would not have arguable probable cause to arrest Ms. Cronick.”

The circumstances of Cronick’s arrest at the Sun Springs Motel in Colorado Springs were captured on her own cell phone and the body-worn cameras of multiple officers.

On Dec. 12, 2018, Cronick heard shouts for help at the motel, where she was staying. A man was lying unconscious outside of a guest room, apparently due to a drug overdose.

Cronick called 911 and talked with a dispatcher while simultaneously recording video. The footage showed Cronick instructing another woman how to perform chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Their efforts resulted in the man beginning to breathe again moments before first responders arrived.

“Sasha, you did a great job today. Thank you,” the dispatcher told her.

Cronick remained nearby, recording on her phone and intermittently answering questions about what happened. Pryor walked up and learned Cronick was the one who called 911. He asked for her name and room number, but she responded she was “not answering questions like that,” then mentioned “police harassment.”

“Why don’t you leave the immediate area,” Pryor said, touching her out of view of his body-worn camera.

“Get your f—–g hands off me. Don’t f—–g touch me,” Cronick screamed while walking away.

“Lighten up, lady,” Pryor said while following her. “I asked you to leave the area.”

Other officers gathered around Pryor. Cronick began demanding their names and, in response, Pryor and McCafferty placed her in handcuffs and patted her down.

Cronick later went to trial in municipal court for the charge of failure to disperse. A judge agreed she came “dangerously close” to being convicted, but it was unclear whether Pryor had ever actually given her an order to leave, resulting in her acquittal.

Cronick then sued the officers and the city of Colorado Springs. The defendants asserted qualified immunity, which shields government employees from civil lawsuits unless they violate a person’s clearly established legal rights. The officers argued there was probable cause to arrest Cronick for her conduct.

Arguello, however, determined a jury could find Cronick did not pose a threat or otherwise breach the peace, except for her yelling in response to being touched. Yelling alone, Arguello noted, does not provide probable cause for a crime, and the municipal judge already found Cronick not guilty of her charged offense.

“The parties vigorously dispute whether Pryor issued an ‘order’ to Plaintiff that she refused to obey. After viewing the body worn camera, the Court finds that it is a question for the jury whether Pryor ever ‘ordered’ Plaintiff to leave the scene,” she wrote. “If the jury finds that Pryor did order Plaintiff to leave, the jury must then determine when he issued the order and, significantly, if Plaintiff complied by turning and walking away.”

The officers appealed to the 10th Circuit, maintaining there was “arguable” probable cause to arrest Cronick for failing to disperse in violation of city ordinance. During oral arguments, however, the panel returned to the same question Arguello said she could not answer: whether Pryor actually gave Cronick an order.

“If there’s no order — and the ordinance starts out by requiring an order — how can there be arguable cause for failure to desist or disperse?” asked Judge Robert E. Bacharach.

The panel ultimately agreed the municipal judge’s finding that Cronick had not violated the ordinance cut in her favor, as did the fact that the video showed her walking away after Pryor mentioned she should leave the “immediate area.”

“Ms. Cronick physically performed what she was asked to do,” Tymkovich wrote. “No reasonable officer could believe Ms. Cronick disobeyed an order to disperse on the facts assumed for this appeal.”

The case is Cronick v. Pryor et al.