Opinion ID: 785861
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Qualified Immunity-Police Officers

Text: 84 The Supreme Court held in Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001) that qualified immunity also applies to Fourth Amendment excessive force claims. Id. at 206, 121 S.Ct. 2151. Consequently, even if an officer uses force that was objectively unreasonable, he may nevertheless be protected from individual monetary liability if he reasonably believed, based on the facts and circumstances known to him, that the force used was lawful. Stated somewhat differently, an official who violated an individual's constitutional right, but not a clearly established constitutional right, may have acted in an objectively reasonable manner and would thereby be protected from liability by qualified immunity. The relevant, dispositive inquiry in determining whether a right is clearly established is whether it would be clear to a reasonable officer that his conduct was unlawful in the situation he confronted. Id. at 202, 121 S.Ct. 2151. 85 We have discussed this second prong of a qualified immunity defense above when we addressed the Rivas's claims against the EMTs. The factors we noted there are the same factors that apply here. In sum: under all the circumstances relevant to the officers' restraint and handling of Mr. Rivas, did their actions constitute excessive force and, if they did, was their violation of Mr. Rivas's constitutional right a clearly established one? Mitchell, 472 U.S. at 528, 105 S.Ct. 2806. Because the facts to be determined are disputed and as such are the function of the jury, the District Court did not err in denying summary judgment to the officers.