Opinion ID: 615433
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mattos Background

Text: On August 23, 2006, Jayzel Mattos and her husband Troy had a domestic dispute. Around 11 p.m., Jayzel asked C.M., her 14-year-old daughter, to call the police, which C.M. did. Several minutes later, Maui Police Officers Darren Agarano, Halayudha MacKnight, and Stuart Kunioka arrived at the Mattoses' residence. As the officers approached the residence, they saw Troy sitting on the top of the stairs outside the front door with a couple of open beer bottles lying nearby. Troy is six feet three inches tall, approximately 200 pounds, and he smelled of alcohol when the officers arrived. Officer Ryan Aikala arrived by himself soon after. Kunioka approached Troy first and informed him about the 911 call. Troy told Kunioka that he and Jayzel had an argument, but he stated that nothing physical had occurred. As Kunioka continued to question Troy, Troy became agitated and rude. Kunioka asked Troy if he could speak to Jayzel to ensure that she was okay. When Troy went inside to get Jayzel, Agarano stepped inside the residence behind him. Troy returned with Jayzel and became angry when he saw Agarano inside his residence. Jayzel was initially behind Troy, but she ended up in front of him on her way to the front door to speak with the officers. Troy yelled at Agarano to get out of the residence because he had no right to be inside. Agarano asked Jayzel if he could speak to her outside. Jayzel agreed to go outside, but before she could comply with Agarano's request, Aikala entered the residence and stood in the middle of the living room. When Aikala announced that Troy was under arrest, Jayzel was already standing in front of Troy. She did not immediately move out of the way. As Aikala moved in to arrest Troy, he pushed up against Jayzel's chest, at which point she extended [her] arm to stop [her] breasts from being smashed against Aikala's body. Aikala then asked Jayzel, Are you touching an officer? At the same time, Jayzel was speaking to Agarano, asking why Troy was being arrested, attempting to defuse the situation by saying that everyone should calm down and go outside, and expressing concern that the commotion not disturb her sleeping children who were in the residence. Then, without warning, Aikala shot his taser at Jayzel in dart-mode. Id. Jayzel felt an incredible burning and painful feeling locking all of [her] joints [and] muscles and [she] f[e]ll hard on the floor. Agarano and MacKnight handcuffed Troy. Troy and Jayzel were taken into custody; Troy was charged with harassment, in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes § 711-1106, and resisting arrest, in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes § 710-1026, and Jayzel was charged with harassment and obstructing government operations, in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes § 710-1010. All charges were ultimately dropped. The Mattoses sued the officers and others for violations of their Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights based on the officers' warrantless entry into their home, their arrests, and the officers' use of the taser on Jayzel. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on all of the Mattoses' claims except their Fourth Amendment excessive force claim for the tasing. The district court concluded that there were material questions of fact critical to deciding whether the tasing was constitutionally reasonable, which precluded a pretrial ruling on the issue of qualified immunity. Thereafter, the officers filed this interlocutory appeal challenging the denial of their claims to qualified immunity.