Opinion ID: 2982150
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Unlawful Entry and Arrest - Remaining Officers

Text: Officer Cates, Officer Gondek and Reserve Officer Nason, all of junior rank to Officer Keller, arrived at the Saad home after Officer Keller and the events that purportedly prompted Officer Keller to request backup. Although the facts taken in the light most favorable to the Saads support that Officer Keller knew that the warantless entry and arrest was illegal, the dispositive inquiry to determine whether a right is clearly established is whether it would be clear to a reasonable officer that his conduct was unlawful in the situation he confronted. Saucier, 533 U.S. at 202. The Saads’ response to the Officers’ motion for summary judgment addressed only Officer Keller’s conduct and version of the events. The Saads neither argued nor cited record evidence from which it could be inferred that it would have been clear to any of these junior Officers that the entry into the Saad home and Saad’s arrest were unlawful, see Pritchard v. Hamilton Twp. Bd. of Trustees, 424 F. App’x 492, 499–504 (6th Cir. 2011) (analyzing each defendant police officer individually in order to determine entitlement to qualified immunity), or that these Officers had reason to question their superior Officer’s directive to enter the Saad home and arrest Saad. This leaves Sergeant Skelton, the ranking Officer, who was the last to arrive at the scene. Sergeant Skelton testified that Reserve Officer Nason told him that Saad had shoved Officer Keller. He testified that he assumed that Officer Keller had a legal basis to enter the home and that Saad’s arrest was supported by probable cause. As with the junior Officers, the Saads neither argue nor cite record evidence to support that it would have been clear to Sergeant Skelton that entry into the Saad home and Saad’s arrest were unlawful. -11- No. 12-1894 Saad v. Keller Under these circumstances, we reverse the denial of qualified immunity on the Saads’ unlawful entry and arrest claims as to Officer Cates, Officer Gondek, Reserve Officer Nason, and Sergeant Skelton.