The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects against unreasonable seizures. U.S. Const. amend. IV. In pertinent part, the text of the Fourth Amendment provides that “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” Id.

On August 31, 2020, Oyoma Asinor was photographing a protest near Lafayette Park in the District of Columbia when he was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”). The MPD took Mr. Asinor’s cell phone, camera, and other personal items incident to the arrest but released him later that day. Mr. Asinor was never charged with any crime resulting from the arrest. Despite Mr. Asinor’s repeated requests over the following months, the MPD withheld his property for nearly a year.