Opinion ID: 575867
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The subsequent use of the Taser.

Text: 43 The district court found, and all the parties agree, that Sizemore fired the Taser at Bubenhofer while he lay at the bottom of the stairwell, that the dart struck Bubenhofer in the face, and that at this point Bubenhofer posed no immediate threat to the officers. The district court reasoned that [i]t should have been clear [to Sizemore] after its first use under an objectively reasonable standard that the use of the Taser gun effectively escalated the incident instead of preventing a suicide or inducing Thomas Bubenhofer to surrender. J.A. at 28-29. The court thus held that, [a]pplying the objective reasonableness test, the Court cannot conclude that the further use of the Taser by Sizemore ... was objectively reasonable.... Thus, this Court cannot declare that Sizemore is immune from suit in this regard as a matter of law. Id. at 32. 44 We suspect that the district court may have misapprehended the qualified immunity inquiry. As discussed above, the issue is not simply whether Sizemore acted in a reasonable manner, but also whether his actions violated clearly established law, and whether an officer in Sizemore's position would reasonably have known that his conduct was illegal. Although Sizemore's subsequent firings of the Taser present a closer question than his initial use of the Taser, we note again that his actions were intended to avoid having to resort to lethal force. While Sizemore's later uses of the Taser, after its initial ineffectiveness, might appear questionable, we cannot conclude that they constituted a show of excessive force. We conclude, therefore, that Sizemore was entitled to qualified immunity in his use of the Taser and, accordingly, reverse the district court's denial of summary judgment. 45