Court Opinion

ID: 9780388
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 01:55:58.453566+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:04.120896
License: Public Domain

CARTER, C.J.,
concurring.
|,I join in the decision of the court and write separately to express an additional reason for reversing the finding of liability on the part of the Sheriffs Office and the officers.
The scope of an officer’s duty is to choose a course of action that is reasonable under the circumstances. Syne v. Schilhab, 96-1027 (La.5/20/97), 693 So.2d 1173, 1177. The following factors, originally set forth in Kyle v. City of New Orleans, 353 So.2d 969 (La.1977), must be considered to determine whether the officers’ conduct was reasonable: 1) the known character of the arrestee; 2) the risks and dangers faced by the officer; 3) the nature of the offense involved; 4) the chance of the ar-restee’s escape if the particular means are not employed; 5) the existence of alternative means of arrest; 6) the physical size, strength, and weaponry of the officer as compared to the arrestee; 7) the exigency of the moment. Mathieu v. Imperial Toy Corp., 94-0952 (La.11/30/94), 646 So.2d 318, 323-24.
Considering the totality of the circumstances and the Kyle factors, I find that the officers did not breach them duty by entering the trailer residence as plaintiff contends. The officers were informed that Dodge had ingested cocaine and violently battered a man earlier in the day without provocation. Upon arriving at 12the trailer residence, the officers knocked and announced their presence. The officers suspected that a violent, potentially inebriated man with a known history of domestic violence was inside the trailer. The plain*211tiff, who answered the door, was not forthcoming about whether Dodge was present in the trailer. The officers heard additional people moving in the trailer, and it was unclear exactly how many people were present and subject to Dodge’s violent whims.
The role of the courts in considering officers’ conduct is not to determine whether the officers should have acted differently or if there were better options available, but only whether the officers’ actions were reasonable under a totality of the circumstances. Syrie, 693 So.2d at 1177. As set forth herein, I find that the officers’ actions were reasonable under the circumstances.