Opinion ID: 213250
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Troupe v. Sarasota Cnty., Fla., 419 F.3d 1160 (11th Cir.2005).

Text: In Troupe, a 17-member SWAT team was assigned to serve a felony drug arrest warrant for Ryan Hart and a search warrant for Hart's residence. The SWAT team was told that Hart had 40 previous arrests, 19 convictions, and was out on bond for attempted murder and was known to run from the police and for his violent tendencies. 419 F.3d at 1163. While the SWAT team was en route, Hart and two other maleslater identified as Robinson and Waitersleft Hart's house and got into a vehicle. The SWAT team surrounded the vehicle with guns drawn and yelled commands for Hart and the passengers to open the doors and surrender. Hart, the driver, revved the engine and moved the car in jerking motions. The vehicle made a hard left so that it was facing the road, at which time one of the defendant officers, Gooding, fired a single shot at a low angle, aiming for the lower portion of the tire. 419 F.3d at 1164. The shot missed the tire and, apparently, did not strike anyone or anything. Id. Another defendant officer, Bauer, saw the car coming directly at him, fired two shots at the driver, and jumped out of the car's way as it swept past him. One bullet struck the driver's door and the other hit Hart in the back. None of the shots hit Robinson or Waiters. Hart accelerated, left the yard, turned onto a road and drove over 0.3 miles, including through an intersection without slowing. The car then approached an officer's unmarked vehicle, slowed down, made a sharp move to the right to avoid oncoming traffic . . . and went onto the grass and sidewalk, crashing into a concrete wall. 419 F.3d at 1164-65. Hart and Robinson were pronounced dead at the scene. Waiters sustained blunt force trauma injuries to the skull. Id. at 1165. The plaintiffs in the consolidated cases were Troupe (Robinson's personal representative) and Waiters. The district court granted the defendants summary judgment. The 11th Circuit agreed with the district court's determinations that the defendants were not the proximate cause of the plaintiffs' injuries (concluding that it was Hart's reckless driving, and not Bauer's decision to use deadly force, that caused the death and injury of the plaintiffs), that the defendants' use of deadly force was reasonable under § 1983, and that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. However, the Troupe court disagreed with the district court's determination that the plaintiffs had been seized, noting that an attempted seizure does not constitute a seizure and that stopping a vehicle's driver does not constitute seizure of the passengers. Troupe, 419 F.3d at 1167.