Opinion ID: 171480
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Supervisory liability for excessive force

Text: As to Capt. Gonzales's suggestion that the extent to which he can be held liable as a supervisor is limited, because there is no affirmative link between his actions and those of his officers, we must disagree. Viewing the facts in favor of plaintiffs, we agree with the district court's conclusion that: there is an affirmative link between Defendant Gonzales and the use of excessive force against Plaintiffs Chavez, Doyon, and Michael Kisner sufficient to overcome a motion for summary judgment. Seen in the light most favorable to these three Plaintiffs, the evidence suggests that Defendant Gonzales set in motion a series of events that he knew or reasonably should have known would cause his officers to violate Plaintiffs Chavez, Doyon, and Michael Kisner's constitutional rights when he authorized the use of pepper ball rounds, ordered Plaintiff Doyon's arrest, and ordered his officers to sweep people from the front of the Frontier restaurant. Aplts' App. vol. VIII, at 2035 (citations omitted) (emphasis added). Unlike Holland, upon which Capt. Gonzales relies, here, Capt. Gonzales allowed and encouraged the use of force against compliant demonstrators. In Holland, the decision to deploy a SWAT team to execute misdemeanor warrants was determined not to establish an affirmative link to the alleged excessive force. Holland, 268 F.3d at 1191. There, plaintiffs did not show that [defendants] decided to use the SWAT team knowing that the SWAT team would use excessive force, intending to cause harm to any person, or that they instructed the SWAT team to use excessive force while conducting the ... raid. Id. Here, Capt. Gonzales did not want his officers to act independently. He contacted his officers through radio, hand signal, and direct verbal command. He deployed chemical munitions, and also ordered the deployment of tear gas, pepper ball rounds, and bean bag projectiles. He directed the arrest of several protestors and encouraged the arrests of others. We agree that he authorized his officers to use force against protestors, and, viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the Excessive Force Plaintiffs, we agree with the district court that Capt. Gonzales could be held liable under § 1983 as a supervisor. To the extent Capt. Gonzales challenges the district courts factual findings as to the sufficiency of evidence, we do not have jurisdiction to assess such claims. See Walker v. City of Orem, 451 F.3d 1139, 1154 (10th Cir.2006) (A defendant may not immediately appeal a district court's order denying qualified immunity ... merely to dispute the district court's conclusions that plaintiff's claims are supported by sufficient evidence in the record or that disputed issues of material fact exist which preclude summary judgment.).