Opinion ID: 198593
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Ronald Ramsdell's Second Burst of Bullets

Text: 27 The magistrate found Ronald's second burst to be objectively reasonable based on his fear that Napier was going to shoot him when Napier turned to face him after the first burst of bullets. Because Napier was acquitted of charges of criminal threatening and reckless conduct toward Ronald, there is no collateral estoppel with regard to those issues. In making his determination regarding the reasonableness of the second burst, the magistrate relied on the very short period of time involved, the plaintiff's failure to drop his gun, and the fact that the plaintiff does not contend that he did not hear Richard's and Ronald's repeated orders to drop his gun. In light of those three factors, the magistrate stated that Napier's denial that he raised his gun when he turned toward Ronald was not determinative. 28 We would agree with the magistrate's conclusion if the undisputed record was that Ronald: (1) saw that Napier held a firearm when Napier turned to face him; (2) ordered Napier to drop his weapon; and (3) shot Napier when he refused to do so. However, Napier disputes whether the officers ever identified themselves or instructed him to drop his weapon. Contrary to the magistrate's statement, Napier did contend that he did not hear the officers identify themselves or order Napier to drop his gun. Napier also points to the testimony of neighbors who heard Napier shouting to his neighbor before the police arrived but did not hear any later yelling or shouting from the officers. From this, Napier contends that a reasonable jury could conclude that no such warnings were given by the officers. 29 At oral argument, Napier pointed out that he did argue below: (1) that neither he nor his neighbors heard the warnings that the Ramsdells claim to have given, and (2) that a reasonable jury could conclude that the Ramsdells did not in fact warn Napier of their presence or command him to drop his gun. However, these arguments were not made in Napier's brief in opposition to appellants' motion for summary judgment; rather, they were offered in the accompanying Statement of Material Facts. The argument section of Napier's brief was the proper place to outline all of his arguments in opposition to defendants' motion for summary judgment, including all of the alleged factual disputes. Nowhere in Napier's brief did he argue that a factual issue existed regarding whether the officers gave warnings to Napier before opening fire. We are reluctant to forgive the omission of an argument from an opposition brief merely because that argument was made in an accompanying statement of material facts. Because of Napier's failure to include this argument in his brief, the magistrate missed this factual dispute and erroneously stated that Napier [did] not contend that he did not hear Richard's and Ronald's repeated orders to drop his gun. 30 However, these arguments were expressly outlined in Napier's Statement of Material Facts, an eleven-page document that Napier was required to file with his opposition brief. Further, after the magistrate issued his recommended decision, Napier filed a statement of objections to that recommended decision. In that document, Napier specifically identified the factual dispute between the officers, who testified that they ordered him to drop his weapon, and Napier, who testified that he heard nothing. The district court's October 1, 1998 Order affirming the recommended decision stated that the district court: (1) reviewed the recommended decision and the entire record, and (2) made a de novo determination of all matters adjudicated by the recommended decision. Even though we can understand how the magistrate and district court could have missed the factual dispute buried in Napier's Statement of Material Facts, that factual dispute was reiterated in Napier's objections to the recommended decision. Finally, Napier's motion for oral argument was denied by the district court, depriving him of any last opportunity to point out the magistrate's error and to more prominently bring this dispute to the attention of the court. For these reasons, we reluctantly find that the factual dispute regarding whether warnings were given is part of the summary judgment record. 31 Nevertheless, we can affirm the district court's entry of summary judgment in favor of Ronald Ramsdell on any independently sufficient ground. See Mesnick v. General Electric Co., 950 F.2d 816, 822 (1st Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 504 U.S. 985 (1992); Polyplastics, Inc. v. Transconex, Inc., 827 F.2d 859, 860 (1st Cir. 1987). Even absent agreement that the officers warned Napier to drop his gun, we agree with the magistrate that no reasonable jury could find Ronald's conduct of firing the second burst of three bullets to be so deficient that no reasonable officer could have made the same choice under the circumstances. 32 The established and undisputed circumstances facing Ronald at the time he made the decision to fire the second burst were as follows. The Ramsdells were investigating a complaint that Napier was firing a weapon from his home and were told that Napier might be mentally unstable. When Richard approached the house, Napier threatened him with a gun, recklessly creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to Richard. Richard responded by jumping behind a woodpile, scrambling around the corner of the house, and firing a shot at Napier, who continued to hold the gun. Ronald knew that his brother had leaped behind the woodpile in retreat, and he saw Napier, still holding his gun, emerge into the doorway. Fearing for his brother, Ronald fired the first burst of bullets at Napier, but Napier was not hit. 3 Rather than drop his gun, Napier then turned toward Ronald. It was at this point that Ronald fired the contested second burst. 33 We cannot find that the firing of the second burst was so deficient that no reasonable officer could have made the same decision. The facts established at Napier's criminal trial demonstrate that Ronald was correct in fearing that his brother had been threatened by a possibly mentally disturbed man with a gun and was at risk of serious bodily injury. Ronald fired a burst of three bullets and nothing changed: Napier did not fall to the ground, drop his gun, or otherwise indicate that the risk no longer existed. Instead, he turned to face Ronald, causing him to believe that he was now also placed at risk. All of this occurred within seconds. We agree that Napier's self-serving claim that he did not point his gun at Ronald is not determinative. After what had already occurred, Napier need not have specifically pointed his gun at Ronald for Ronald to believe that the danger still existed and now also encompassed him. We must remember that the reasonableness of an officer's use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight. See Graham, 490 U.S. at 396. The calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that officers are often forced to make split-second judgments -- in situations that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving -- about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation. Id. at 396-97. Therefore, we agree with the magistrate that no reasonable jury could find that Ronald's conduct of firing the second burst of three bullets was so deficient that no reasonable officer could have made the same choice under the circumstances. At the very least, we find that Ronald could have reasonably believed that the second burst was justified and lawful due to the threat to his brother, the ineffectiveness of the first burst at ending that threat, and the quickly emerging apparent threat to himself. Therefore, under the standard enunciated in Anderson, Ronald is entitled to qualified immunity with regard to the second burst, whether Napier has alleged a viable Fourth Amendment violation or not. See Anderson, 483 U.S. at 641.