SALEM, Va. – In December of 2022, Michael Morris was rushing his 10-year-old daughter to the emergency room when State Trooper Timothy Derosha pulled a gun on him just steps from the hospital doors.
Now, a federal judge says what happened next could have violated that child’s constitutional rights.
“Stop, don’t move,” Derosha said with his gun pointed at Morris.
“You’re going to kill her,” said Morris, talking about his sick daughter in the backseat of the car.
“I’m going to kill you if you move again. Put your hands on the steering wheel,” said Derosha.
This high-stress encounter outside a hospital is now raising serious constitutional questions in federal court.
Morris says he was rushing his 10-year-old daughter to the LewisGale emergency room as she struggled to breathe.
On the way, he sped, ran red lights, and says he called 911 - trying to let dispatchers know it was a medical emergency.
“I just was on the phone with 911,” Morris said after Derosha pulled him over.
Now, a federal judge is weighing in on a 2025 lawsuit filed not by Morris, but on behalf of his young daughter.
“Redirect, he called into Salem City. He has a child in the car he’s trying to take to the ER,” the dispatcher said during the stop.
His daughter, referred to as M.M., is suing Derosha personally, claiming he violated her 14th Amendment rights during the stop.
She claims she was detained and prevented from getting emergency medical care - despite being in a life-threatening situation.
Derosha’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing the lawsuit should be thrown out and that he should be protected by qualified immunity.
“When you sue law enforcement or other government officials, it has to be kind of unusual circumstances for you to be able to sue them and collect money from them. In many circumstances, they’re immune from money judgments against them,” Former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia John Fishwick said.
Fishwick says it comes down to whether a constitutional violation occurred, and whether that right was clearly established at the time of the violation
“Ultimately juries are going to look at what the officers knew and didn’t know at that time. What was reasonable for that officer’s reactions to be, and did they go beyond what is typically done and did they violate something they knew they shouldn’t have done at that time,” Fishwick said.
Derosha argued his actions did not rise to the level of a constitutional violation - saying this was a fast-moving traffic stop and that a short delay in care did not “shock the conscience.”
But M.M.’s attorneys argued that Derosha had time to assess what was happening and that he knew a child in the car was in medical distress.
The federal judge sided with M.M. in a March ruling, saying the allegations, if true, could show deliberate indifference to a serious medical need.
The court found this wasn’t a split-second decision - writing, “Seconds matter” when someone can’t breathe and despite Derosha’s direct knowledge that M.M. could not breathe, he chose not to address the situation for 90 seconds."
This was not a quick decision from the judge.
The case was first heard back in July of 2025 - with this opinion taking nearly nine months to come down.
Now, M.M.’s case will move forward in federal court. Separately, her father’s case against Derosha and Virgina State Police is still ongoing as well.
10 News reached out to the Morris family’s attorney, who says they cannot comment on pending litigation.
We also reached out to Derosha’s attorneys, but have not heard back. For more information and our previous coverage, click here.