Opinion ID: 624130
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Severity of Crime Committed

Text: In Oliver, Anthony Oliver “was not accused of or suspected of any crime, let alone a violent one.” Id. at 908. Here, however, Allen had just recently committed assault and battery on a police officer by lunging through the patrol car window and grabbing the officer’s shirt while threatening to kill him. Clark v. State, 714 S.E.2d 736, 737 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011) (“Under OCGA § 16-5-20(a), a person commits the offense of simple assault when he either (1) attempts to commit a violent injury to the person of another; or (2) commits an act which places another in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury.”) (quotations and alterations omitted); Williams v. State, 651 S.E.2d 347, 349 (Ga. Ct. App. 2007) (“In Georgia, a person commits simple battery when he intentionally makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with the person of another.”) (quotations and alterations omitted). Besides being an assault and battery on a law enforcement officer, Allen’s behavior also amounted to obstruction. Long v. State, 583 S.E.2d 158, 159 (Ga. Ct. App. 2003) (“A person commits the offense of obstruction of a law enforcement officer when he knowingly and willfully obstructs or hinders any law enforcement officer in the lawful discharge of his official duties.”) (quotations omitted). Against the background of whether every reasonable officer would have inevitably concluded that the force was unlawful, 12 this factor weighs in favor of Cooks and Harkleroad. Priester, 208 F.3d at 926-27; Vinyard v. Wilson, 311 F.3d 1340, 1347 (11th Cir. 2002) (“Generally, more force is appropriate for a more serious offense and less force is appropriate for a less serious one.”) (quotations omitted).