Opinion ID: 4471699
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Assumed Facts

Text: Before relating the facts, we first address which facts we must accept or assume for purposes of this interlocutory appeal of the denial of qualified immunity. The plaintiﬀs argue we must accept both “the ‘facts that the district court assumed when it denied summary judgment,’ and … ‘the plaintiﬀ’s version of the facts.’” This misstates the standard established by our case law. We are instead presented with a choice between “[s]everal sources of undisputed facts [that] may frame our review” of the purely legal question presented by a denial of qualified immunity. White v. Gerardot, 509 F.3d 829, 833 (7th Cir. 2007). We may “take, as given, the facts that the district court assumed when it denied summary judgment.” Id. (quoting Washington v. Haupert, 481 F.3d 543, 549 n.2 (7th Cir. 2007)). Alternatively, “we may conduct our review by ‘accepting the plaintiﬀ’s version of the facts.’” Id.; see also Jewett v. Anders, 521 F.3d 818, 819 (7th Cir. 2008). And finally, whether we accept the district court’s assumed facts or the plaintiﬀ’s version of the facts, we may also look to undisputed evidence in the record even if the district court did not consider it. White, 509 F.3d at 833 n.5; see also Thompson v. Cope, 900 F.3d 414, 419 (7th Cir. 2018). No. 19-1930 3 Although we are free to choose either the district court’s assumed facts or the plaintiﬀ’s version, it is most often appropriate to accept the facts assumed by the district court in its denial of summary judgment. Haupert, 481 F.3d at 549 n.2. Accordingly, we accept the district court’s statement of facts. See Day v. City of Indianapolis, 380 F. Supp. 3d 812, 817–21 (S.D. Ind. 2019). In a few instances, which we note, we look to undisputed evidence not included in the district court’s order but provided elsewhere in the record. Terrell Day was eighteen years old and weighed approximately 312 pounds1 at the time of his death, with a history of obesity and an underlying heart condition. On September 26, 2015, Day was confronted by a loss-prevention oﬃcer outside the Burlington Coat Factory at Washington Square Mall in Indianapolis after Day apparently shoplifted a watch from the store. Day returned the watch but refused to return to the store with the loss-prevention oﬃcer. A mall security oﬃcer who joined the confrontation noticed Day had a gun in his pocket. There are varying accounts of what occurred next, but it is undisputed that a chase ensued in which Day ran out of the mall, through the parking lot, and across a street to a gas station. He there collapsed on a grassy slope. Law enforcement soon arrived in response to a radio call describing an armed shoplifter. At this point, the gun was no longer on Day’s person, but was lying in the grass a few feet away and out of his reach. Oﬃcer Denny, the second oﬃcer to arrive on scene, handcuﬀed Day behind his back with a single set of handcuﬀs. He 1 Day’s approximate weight was recorded in the autopsy report. (Ap-