O.W. v. Marie Carr

── O.W. v. Marie Carr ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Date: April 09, 2026 Category: General USCA4 Appeal: 24-1288 Doc: 95 Filed: 04/09/2026 Pg: 1 of 32 PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 24-1288 O.W., Plaintiff – Appellant, v. MARIE L. CARR, police officer in her individual and official capacities; REID BAKER, assistant principal in his individual and official capacities; SCHOOL BOARD OF THE CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA, a body corporate; CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH, a body politic and corporate, Defendants – Appellees. ------------------------------ JUVENILE LAW CENTER; RISE FOR YOUTH; NATIONAL POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT; ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER, Amici Supporting Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Elizabeth W. Hanes, District Judge. (2:21-cv-00448-EWH-LRL) Argued: October 31, 2024 Decided: April 9, 2026 Before AGEE, QUATTLEBAUM, and RUSHING, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Agee wrote the opinion, in which Judge Quattlebaum and Judge Rushing joined. USCA4 Appeal: 24-1288 Doc: 95 Filed: 04/09/2026 Pg: 2 of 32 ARGUED: Makiba Aletta Gaines, POLARIS LAW FIRM, Chesapeake, Virginia, for Appellant. Anne Catherine Lahren, PENDER & COWARD, PC, Virginia Beach, Virginia; Joseph Martin Kurt, OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY, Virginia Beach, Virginia, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Richard H. Matthews, Andrew C. Harding, PENDER & COWARD, P.C., Virginia Beach, Virginia, for Appellees School Board of the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia and Reid Baker. Mark D. Stiles, Christopher S. Boynton, Gerald L. Harris, OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY, Virginia Beach, Virginia, for Appellees City of Virginia Beach and Marie Carr. Booth Marcus Ripke, NATHANS & RIPKE, LLP, Baltimore, Maryland; Marsha L. Levick, Riya Saha Shah, Vic F. Wiener, JUVENILE LAW CENTER, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for Amici Juvenile Law Center and Rise for Youth. Keisha James, Lauren Bonds, Eliana Machefsky, NATIONAL POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT, Washington, D.C., for Amicus National Police Accountability Project. Megan Iorio, Tom McBrien, Jake Wiener, ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Electronic Privacy Information Center. 2 USCA4 Appeal: 24-1288 Doc: 95 Filed: 04/09/2026 Pg: 3 of 32 AGEE, Circuit Judge: In 2019, O.W.—a 13-year-old male student at Kempsville Middle School in Virginia Beach, Virginia—received a sexually explicit photo from a female classmate. A few months later, he shared that photo with some other students during the school day. Teachers quickly caught wind of the matter and notified the Acting Assistant Principal, Reid Baker. In response, Mr. Baker took O.W. out of class, asked him some questions, and searched the photo gallery of his phone. Mr. Baker also notified the police officer working at Kempsville, School Resource Officer Marie L. Carr, who then began a criminal investigation. After being questioned by Mr. Baker and Officer Carr, and after showing the explicit photo to Officer Carr, O.W. was criminally charged in juvenile court for possession of child pornography. State juvenile court proceedings followed, but the case against O.W. was ultimately dismissed after he completed t