Court Opinion

ID: 9799194
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 05:55:19.536814+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:40.588401
License: Public Domain

Chief Judge KOZINSKI,
with whom Circuit Judges TROTT, TALLMAN and BEA join,
dissenting:
It’s undisputed that, at the time he fired the fatal shot, Officer Wyatt was trapped inside a moving vehicle driven by a man who had resisted the verbal commands, physical restraints, lethal threats and bodily force of two uniformed officers. How fast the van was moving and how far it had traveled are beside the point. Wfliat matters is that Officer Wyatt was prisoner in a vehicle controlled by someone who had already committed several dangerous felonies. No sane officer in Wyatt’s situation would have acted any differently, and no reasonable jury will hold him liable. The only thing this remand will accomplish is to give plaintiffs a bludgeon with which to extort a hefty settlement. The Supreme Court should foil the plan with a swift summary reversal.