Opinion ID: 615433
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Brooks v. City of Seattle

Text: Pulled over for speeding in a school zone, Brooks found herself in a situation familiar to motorists. Every year, millions of people get traffic tickets. No one likes it, but we set our resentment aside, sign our citations and move on. Not Brooks. Officer Ornelas gave her a ticket in the normal course, but Brooks denied speeding and refused to sign. Ornelas assured Brooks that she wouldn't admit guilt by signing, but she still refused. When Officer Jones stopped to assist, he told Brooks she was required by law to sign and reiterated that she wouldn't admit guilt by doing so. Jones pointed to the writing at the bottom of the ticket, which read: Without admitting to having committed each of the above offenses, by signing this document I acknowledge receipt of this notice of infraction and promise to respond as directed on this notice. Brooks called Jones a liar and again denied speeding. Jones showed her the reading on the radar gun, but Brooks claimed it had clocked the car in front of her. She remained defiant even after Jones told her she'd be arrested if she continued to refuse. In an attempt to resolve the situation short of an arrest, Jones called Sergeant Daman, who arrived five minutes later, approached Brooks and introduced himself as the other officers' supervisor. By then, Brooks was irrational, screaming and out of control, but Daman gave her another chance to sign the ticket instead of going to jail. When Brooks still refused, Daman ordered Ornelas and Jones to arrest her. Ornelas told Brooks to get out of her car, but she refused. In further effort to avoid using force, Jones told Brooks he'd Tase her if she wouldn't leave the car. He removed the darts from his Taser, told Brooks the device would cause pain if he were required to use it, and cycled it so she could see and hear its electric current. Brooks didn't get out, so the officers tried to extract her, but she wrapped her arm around the steering column ... and wedged her body into the driver's seat. What were the officers supposed to do at that point? Brooks had shown herself deaf to reason, and moderate physical force had only led to further entrenchment. The officers couldn't just walk awayBrooks was under arrest. Moreover, Brooks was behaving erratically, and her keys were in the car. The officers had to physically control her somehow, lest she manage to start up the engine and run someone over. How long was this stalemate supposed to go on? Brooks was tying up two line officers, a sergeant and three police vehiclesresources diverted from other community functionsto deal with one lousy traffic ticket. The majority casts aspersions on what the officers did here, condemning their decision to Tase Brooks as unconstitutional. But, even with the benefit of hindsight and plenty of time to think about it, my colleagues offer no alternative course of action. They ignore the significant fact that, at the time Brooks was Tased, she was no longer a random motorist getting a traffic ticket; she was under arrest. As the Supreme Court has recognized, making an arrest necessarily carries with it the right to use some degree of physical coercion or threat thereof to effect it. Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 396, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989). When police effect an arrest, their relationship with the citizen changes in a material way: The citizen is now subject to the officers' control and has a lawful duty to submit to their authority; failure to do so is a crime. By her own willful conduct, Brooks delivered herself to the power of the officers and the force necessary for them to complete the arrest. Nor do my colleagues explain why Brooks's pregnancy renders the officers' actions any less reasonable. Should the officers have slammed Brooks's fingers with a baton to make her let go of the steering column? Forcibly ripped her from the driver's seat, smashing her abdomen against the steering wheel? Doused her with pepper spray or some other noxious chemical, which would be absorbed into her bloodstream and go straight to the fetus? Those options all involved serious risk of harm to both Brooks and her unborn daughter. Had the officers tried them, we'd still be here, only Brooks would have a stronger case. Having already warned Brooks that he'd Tase her if she wouldn't comply, Jones tried the lightest possible application of the device, pressing it against her clothed thigh for five seconds. Brooks continued to resist, so Jones applied the Taser to the exposed skin of her arm and neck. The Tasing stopped as soon as Brooks was out of the car, but Brooks was obstinate to the bitter end, resist[ing] being handcuffed by keeping her arms tense. The officers nevertheless defused the situation without causing serious harm: Brooks suffered only minor scars, her daughter was born healthy and Brooks's counsel confirmed at oral argument that the child remains healthy. Faced with these utterly positive results, despite Brooks's stubborn effort to put herself and her unborn daughter in harm's way, the majority is reduced to counting the seconds between Tasings, finding that the rapid succession provided no time for Brooks to recover ... and reconsider her refusal to comply. Majority op. at 445. Bull pucky! Although Brooks claims she was scared and in shock after the initial Tasing, she also admits that she began yelling for help and honking her car's horn. Stepping into the shoes of a reasonable officer at the scene, as we must, see Graham, 490 U.S. at 396-97, 109 S.Ct. 1865; Luchtel, 623 F.3d at 980, Brooks's actions weren't those of someone dazed and befuddled, unable to think about what to do next. They bespoke a deliberate decision to continue her defiance. A single drive-stun application having already proved insufficient inducement to Brooks's compliance, the double dose was an objectively reasonable next step and was therefore entirely constitutional. See Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 381-82 & n. 8, 127 S.Ct. 1769, 167 L.Ed.2d 686 (2007). According to the majority, Brooks bears some responsibility for the escalation of this incident. Majority op. at 455 (emphasis added). This suggests that the rest of the blame is with the officers. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Brooks is completely, wholly, 100 percent at fault. Had she behaved responsibly, she'd have driven away in a few minutes with no complications. Instead, Brooks risked harm to herself, her unborn daughter and three police officers because she got her dander up over a traffic ticket. The officers, for their part, were endlessly patient, despite being called liars and otherwise abused by Brooks. They deserve our praise, not the opprobrium of being declared constitutional violators. The City of Seattle should award them commendations for grace under fire. I agree, of course, with the majority that the officers are entitled to qualified immunity from Brooks's excessive force claim. But, because I believe the officers' actions were entirely reasonable, I dissent from my colleagues' decision to deny them immunity from Brooks's state law assault and battery claims. See McKinney v. City of Tukwila, 103 Wash.App. 391, 13 P.3d 631, 641 (2000) (Having found ... that the officers' use of force was reasonable, we find that they are entitled to state law qualified immunity for the assault and battery claims.).