Opinion ID: 166819
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Erik Grisham and Barney Beavers

Text: 34 Defendants Grisham and Beavers were also sheriff's deputies working in the jail during the relevant period. Plaintiff claims that he had physical altercations with each of these defendants that resulted in a violation of his constitutional rights. Plaintiff testified that Grisham once came to his cell in response to a plumbing problem and ordered him to lay on his bed. Instead of complying with that order, plaintiff squatted down, at which point Grisham grabbed [him] around the neck and went to twisting it and hurting it. Love County Suppl. App. at 299. He also testified that Beavers once came to his cell to look for something and plaintiff stepped towards him and fell. According to plaintiff, Beavers then grabbed him around the neck and kind of hurt [him]. Id. at 350. Both Grisham and Beavers deny that they used excessive force against plaintiff. 35 Even accepting plaintiff's version of these events as true, we fail to see how these defendants' actions were objectively harmful enough to establish a constitutional violation. See Smith, 339 F.3d at 1212. Not every push or shove, even if it may later seem unnecessary in the peace of a judge's chambers, violates a prisoner's constitutional rights. DeSpain, 264 F.3d at 978 (quotation marks omitted). Plaintiff points to no evidence indicating that the officers' physical response on these occasions was excessive under the circumstances, and we see no such evidence in the record before us. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment with respect to defendants Grisham and Beavers.