FI L ED

U.S. COURT OF APPEAL S

EL EVENTH CI RCUI T

MARCH 16, 2010

J OHN L EY

CL ERK [ D O N O T P U B L I S H ]

I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S C O U R T O F A P P E A L S

F O R T H E E L E V E N T H C I R C U I T

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

N o

. 0 9

- 1 2 5 0 1

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

D

. C

. D o c k e t N o

. 0 7

- 0 0 6 5 1

- C V

- O R L

- 3 5

- D A B

L A F A Y E T T E W A L K E R

,

P l a i n t i f f

- A p p e l l a n t

,

v e r s u s

C I T Y O F O R L A N D O

,

a F l o r i d a M u n i c i p a l C o r p o r a t i o n

,

E D W A R D M I C H A E L

, S T A N L E Y K L E M

,

N A T H A N F A R R I S

,

D e f e n d a n t s

- A p p e l l e e s

.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A p p e a l f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s D i s t r i c t C o u r t

f o r t h e M i d d l e D i s t r i c t o f F l o r i d a

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

( M a r c h 1 6

, 2 0 1 0 )B e f

o r e E D M O N D S O N a n d M A R C U S

, C i r c u i t J u d g e s

, a n d B A R B O U R

, D i s t r i c t *

J u d g e

.

P E R C U R I A M :

W a l k e r ( P l a i n t i f

f ) w a s p r e s e n t a t a b l o c k p a r t y a f t e r m i d n i g h t w h e r e s e v e r a l

m e n a p p e a r e d a n d b e g a n f i r i n g s h o t s i n t h e a i r

. T h e p o l i c e w e r e c a l l e d

. O f f i c e r

E d w a r d M i c h a e l ( D e f

e n d a n t M i c h a e l ) w a s t h e f i r s t p o l i c e o f

f i c e r o n t h e s c e n e

, a n d

h e c o n f r o n t e d P l a i n t i f

f a n d s o m e o t h e r s

, o r d e r i n g t h e m t o g e t o n t h e g r o u n d

.

P l a i n t i f f w a s r e l u c t a n t t o d o s o a n d s a i d s o

. P l a i n t i f f c l a i m s t h a t D e f

e n d a n t

M i c h a e l t h e n r e p e a t e d l y s t r u c k h i m i n t h e h e a d

, n e c k

, a n d b a c k w i t h t h e b u t t o f a

s e r v i c e r i f

l e

, i n v i o l a t i o n o f P l a i n t i f f ’ s c o n s t i t u t i o n a l r i g h t s

. P l a i n t i f f s u e d

D e f e n d a n t M i c h a e l f

o r t h e s e a c t s a n d t h e C i t y o f O r l a n d o ( D e f e n d a n t C i t y ) f

o r

p e r m i t t i n g a c u s t o m o r p r a c t i c e t h a t l e d t o c o n s t i t u t i o n a l v i o l a t i o n s

. T h e d i s t r i c t

c o u r t g r a n t e d b o t h D e f

e n d a n t s ’ m o t i o n s f

o r s u m m a r y j u d g m e n t

.

T h e a p p e a l p r e s e n t s t h e s e i s s u e s :

W h e t h e r t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t e r r o n e o u s l y c o n c l u d e d t h a t D e f e n d a n t

M i c h a e l h a d q u a l i f

i e d i m m u n i t y f

o r h i s a c t i o n s

.

Honora ble Will iam Henr

y Ba rbour, Jr., United States District J udg e for the Southern *

District of Mississippi , sitti ng by desig nation.

2W h e t h e r t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t e r r o n e o u s l y c o n c l u d e d t h a t D e f e n d a n t C i t y

w a s n o t l i a b l e f

o r D e f e n d a n t M i c h a e l ’ s a c t s

.

B r i e f l y s t a t e d

, w e s e e t h i s c a s e a s p r e s e n t i n g a n e m e r g e n c y s i t u a t i o n ( g u n

s h o t s i n t h e n i g h t ) a n d a p o l i c e o f f i c e r ’ s r e a c t i o n t o a c o n f u s i n g s i t u a t i o n

- -

i n c l u d i n g P l a i n t i f

f ’ s r e l u c t a n c e t o c o m p l y w i t h p o l i c e i n s t r u c t i o n s

- - t h a t i n v o l v e d

p o t e n t i a l d a n g e r

. F o r b a c k g r o u n d

, s e e U n i t e d S t a t e s v

. H o l l o w a y

, 2 9 0 F

. 3 d 1 3 3 1

,

1 3 3 4

– 4 1 ( 1 1 t h C i r

. 2 0 0 2 ) ( d e s c r i b i n g h o w e m e r g e n c y s i t u a t i o n s a f f e c t w h a t i s

r e a s o n a b l e f

o r p o l i c e t o d o )

. G i v e n t h e c i r c u m s t a n c e s

, t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t c o n c l u d e d

t h a t t h e f o r c e a p p l i e d

- - w h i c h

, b y t h e w a y

, c a u s e d n o s e r i o u s p h y s i c a l i n j u r y

- - 1

w a s n o t e x c e s s i v e a n d t h a t p l a c i n g P l a i n t i f f i n a p a t r o l c a r f

o r a g o o d m a n y m i n u t e s

w a s n o t u n r e a s o n a b l e

. A n d b e c a u s e t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t c o r r e c t l y c o n c l u d e d t h a t

D e f e n d a n t M i c h a e l h a d n o t v i o l a t e d P l a i n t i f f ’ s c o n s t i t u t i o n a l r i g h t s

, t h e D e f e n d a n t

C i t y c a n n o t b e h e l d l i a b l e i n t h i s c a s e

.

W e s e e n o r e v e r s i b l e e r r o r

.

A F F I R M E D

.

We acc ept that the extent of phy sical injury is not conclusive about the pr esenc e or 1

absenc e of c onstitut ional violation. See Wil kins v. Gaddy , 129 S. Ct . ____ , 2010 WL 596513

(F eb. 22, 2010) ( Eig hth Amendment ca se). B ut a lack of serious injury

can illustrate how

much

forc e wa s actua lly

used.

3