Opinion ID: 74409
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: excessive force during a legal stop

Text: As their second theory, Plaintiffs assert that even if the investigatory stop was legal, Defendants used more force than reasonably necessary to effect that stop. We examine first Defendants' threat of force in drawing weapons and ordering Plaintiffs to lie on the ground and then Defendants' deadly force.
The right to make an investigatory stop carries with it the right to use some degree of physical coercion or threat thereof to effect it. See Graham, 490 U.S. at 396, 109 S.Ct. 1865. Determining whether the degree of force used was reasonable requires consideration of the exigencies of the immediate situation and the officers' being forced to make split-second decisions. Additionally, this Court has held that an officer's drawing a weapon and ordering a person stopped to lie on the ground does not necessarily constitute excessive force during an investigatory stop. See Courson v. McMillian, 939 F.2d 1479 (11th Cir.1991) (holding that a deputy did not use excessive force during an investigatory stop in requiring the female companion plaintiff, who was never arrested, and the two males, who were later arrested, to lie face down 21 on the ground with a shotgun pointed at them).21 Thus, if the stop was legal, then Plaintiffs have failed to show any excessive threat of force during that stop. Additionally, the facts the jury would have to find to support arguable reasonable suspicion and to make the stop legal likewise support the threat of force initially used by Defendants during that stop. For example, Defendants base their reasonable suspicion on their contention that Plaintiffs took evasive action in abruptly turning into a parking lot and abandoning their car and that Corey Dean ran when Sauls identified himself as a police officer. If this occurred before Sauls drew his weapon and ordered Plaintiffs to lie on the ground, then the officers' threat of force was not excessive. At a minimum, we find that Plaintiffs have not shown that a reasonable police officer, making this legal stop, would have known that drawing his gun and ordering Plaintiffs to lie on the ground violated Plaintiffs' clearly established rights. Therefore, the district court erred in denying Defendants' summary 21 In Courson, the three detainees had not exited the vehicle when first instructed to and had difficulty getting out of the car; one male was verbally abusive and challenged the deputy's authority to conduct the stop. Courson, 939 F.2d at 1496. While waiting for backup and while the two males were arrested, handcuffed and taken away, the deputy with a shotgun still required the plaintiff female to lie on the ground for about thirty minutes even though ultimately she was told she was free to go. Reversing the district court's denial of qualified immunity, this Court held that the deputy was acting under the exigencies of the immediate situation, and used no unreasonable force with respect to the plaintiff or her male companions. Id. The threat of force used here and in Courson stands in contrast to the actual force with physical contact in other cases. See Sheth v. Webster, 145 F.3d 1231 (11th Cir.1998) (holding that defendant officer was not entitled to qualified immunity where officer arrested plaintiff without any arguable probable cause and used excessive force in pushing her against a soda machine, handcuffing her, and dragging her to a police car); Smith v. Mattox, 127 F.3d 1416, 1418-19 (11th Cir.1997) (holding that if jury found that detainee had initially resisted arrest but then docilely submitted to arrest and laid down, the defendant officer's then breaking his arm after he lay on the ground fell within the slender category of cases in which the unlawfulness of the conduct is readily apparent even without clarifying caselaw); Ortega v. Schramm, 922 F.2d 684 (11th Cir.1991) (holding jury issue existed regarding excessive force where defendant officer shot padlock off a door without identifying himself as a police officer and then searched the premises, while another officer guarded plaintiff at gun point and then pushed down or kicked plaintiff in the back, and where after the search turned up no evidence, plaintiff was dragged out of the premises and put on the ground). 22 judgment motion on Plaintiffs' claims that the officers' threat of force during this stop, even if legal, was excessive.
Plaintiffs further claim that Defendants' use of deadly force during this stop, even if legal, was excessive. It is undisputed that Officers Sauls and Pinckney did not shoot until after citizen Stearns shot. Thus, the issue becomes whether Defendants' shooting in response to Stearns's shots was reasonable under the circumstances. We begin with Officer Sauls's use of deadly force. Under Plaintiffs' version of the events, Officer Sauls was standing in the doorway of the Moto Cycle Shop and was struck in the abdomen by Stearns's two bullets. Stearns then crouched down inside the Shop, but Sauls fired back in an effort to save his own life. The fact that Sauls hit Plaintiff Wimbish, lying on the floor in the Shop, and not Stearns, the man with the gun firing at Officer Sauls, does not negate the reasonableness of Officer Sauls's response to this clearly life-threatening situation.22 Because it is undisputed that Stearns fired first and that Wimbish was in the same general area where the gunfire originated, we conclude that Sauls's actions were objectively reasonable in light of having been shot and that Sauls is entitled to qualified immunity on Wimbish and Williams's claims of excessive deadly force. We recognize that Jackson subsequently crawled outside of the shop and was struck by two bullets, but it is undisputed that Jackson was hit only by Pinckney's bullets. Therefore, Sauls is also entitled to qualified immunity on Jackson's claim of excessive deadly force. Officer Pinckney is also entitled to qualified immunity on Wimbish and Williams's claims of excessive deadly force because it is undisputed that he did not fire at or shoot them. However, under Plaintiffs' version of Pinckney's actions, a closer issue is presented regarding whether Pinckney is entitled to 22 Because Stearns shot first, the officers clearly had probable cause to believe they were facing a significant threat of death or physical injury to themselves or others. See Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1, 11, 105 S.Ct. 1694, 85 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985); see also Hamm v. Powell, 874 F.2d 766, 771 (11th Cir.1989); Lundgren v. McDaniel, 814 F.2d 600, 603 (11th Cir.1987). 23 qualified immunity on Jackson's claim of excessive deadly force. According to Plaintiffs' evidence, Officer Sauls began his retreat up Marietta Street and Officer Pinckney took a position on the south side of the doorway where he could not see Stearns inside of the Shop. In an attempt to escape the gunfire between Stearns and Sauls, Plaintiff Jackson crawled out of the Shop. When Jackson saw Officer Pinckney with a gun drawn, he fell to the ground with his face down on the sidewalk. From his position by the lightpole, Officer Pinckney fired two shots toward the unarmed Jackson who was lying prostrate only thirteen feet away from Officer Pinckney. These two shots did not directly hit Jackson but hit the ground inches in front of Jackson's head and ricocheted up piercing Jackson in the arm and neck. It is undisputed that Pinckney's two bullets fatally wounded Jackson. Officer Pinckney explains his shots toward Jackson by claiming that he saw the muzzle of a gun in the doorway and that he was laying cover fire for his wounded partner Sauls. However, Plaintiffs' evidence contradicts Pinckney's contention about this gun. Plaintiffs offer evidence not only that Jackson never had a gun, but also that no gun, except for Stearns's gun, was located at the scene anywhere. There is also no evidence that Jackson had any other object that could have looked like a gun to Pinckney or that there was any other object in the doorway. Plaintiffs' evidence further shows that Stearns, the only civilian with a gun, was never closer than three feet from the door, making it impossible for the muzzle of his gun to have been in the doorway. Because we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the Plaintiffs, the muzzle of a gun theory does not aid Pinckney in this summary-judgment posture. However, Pinckney's use of deadly force as cover fire does help him. It is undisputed that Pinckney knew that someone at the Shop had fired three shots at Sauls and that Sauls was retreating and firing back. The record also shows that Pinckney undisputedly had to make split-second decisions in a tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving situation. Thus, we find that Pinckney's actions in shooting back were reasonable given Stearns's having shot first, the deadly force thus threatening Sauls and Pinckney at this scene, and Sauls's retreating while firing back. At a minimum, we cannot find that under the unusual circumstances of this case, 24 a reasonable police officer would have known that he was violating clearly established law by his use of deadly force after Stearns fired three shots at that police officer's partner. Therefore, Officer Pinckney is also entitled to qualified immunity on Plaintiffs' claims of excessive deadly force during a legal stop. Unlike Officers Sauls and Pinckney, Officer Fields never fired his weapon or employed deadly force. Plaintiffs claim, however, that Officer Fields should have prevented Pinckney's use of deadly force. See Byrd v. Clark, 783 F.2d 1002, 1007 (11th Cir.1986). Since Pinckney is entitled to qualified immunity on his use of deadly force, there is no derivative claim against Fields. Moreover, in order for an officer to be liable for failing to stop another officer's unconstitutional use of deadly force, the officer must be in a position to intervene. See Ensley v. Soper, 142 F.3d 1402, 1407 (11th Cir.1998) (addressing officer's liability in the context of failing to stop police brutality). We find that there is no evidence that Fields had time to prevent Pinckney's response. Even in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, this was a rapidly developing situation in which shots were fired and an officer was retreating while firing his weapon. Therefore, we find that Fields's conduct was objectively reasonable and that he is entitled to qualified immunity on Plaintiffs' claims of excessive deadly force. Finally, since Defendants are entitled to summary judgment on Plaintiffs' excessive force claims, the district court also erred in granting Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment on Defendants' qualified immunity defenses to Plaintiffs' excessive force claims.