Court Opinion

ID: 9497528
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:53:20.312441+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:14.767302
License: Public Domain

ROGERS, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
At worst, Officer Miller made an objectively reasonable mistake as to the amount of force necessary to handcuff Ms. Solomon. Because Officer Miller is therefore entitled to qualified immunity, I respectfully dissent.
The crux of Ms. Solomon’s § 1983 claim is the handcuffing that resulted in her broken arm. It is well established that the handcuffing of a suspect incident to a lawful arrest is constitutional. We held explicitly in Neague v. Cynkar, 258 F.3d 504, 508 (6th Cir.2001) that “when there is no allegation of physical injury, the handcuffing of an individual incident to a lawful arrest is insufficient as a matter of law to state a claim of excessive force under the Fourth Amendment.” See also Palshook v. Jarrett, 120 F.Supp.2d 641, 656 (N.D.Ohio 2000) (“Insofar as [plaintiffs] claim rests entirely on the fact that he was handcuffed [to a bench in a holding cell] ... there is no cause of action for excessive force. It may [be] true that it was unnecessary ... to cuff [plaintiff] at all, but in the context of placing an individual under arrest, use of handcuffs alone cannot amount to excessive force”). Here, Ms. Solomon pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor trespassing and one count of misdemeanor attempted resisting and obstructing a police officer; her arrest was lawful and violated no provision of the Constitution. The decision to handcuff Ms. Solomon, while perhaps not the most advisable course under the circumstances, was certainly constitutional and did not, without more, amount to excessive force. Therefore, if Ms. Solomon has a claim of excessive force, it must be found in the amount of force used by Officer Miller in attempting to handcuff her.
As the majority states, “[qualified immunity will often operate ‘to protect officers from the sometimes hazy border be*176tween excessive and acceptable force.’ ” Op. at 174 (quoting Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 206, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001)). Here, Officer Miller had the right to handcuff Ms. Solomon incident to a lawful arrest and was entitled to use a reasonable amount of force to do so. This case is indeed one of those that fall in the hazy border between excessive and acceptable force. It is uncontested that Officer Miller was faced with Ms. Solomon’s unwillingness to submit to his constitutional decision to handcuff her. Ms. Solomon admitted that she pulled her arms together as the officers seized her to avoid the officers’ attempt to handcuff her. There is no evidence that Officer Miller was attempting to subdue Ms. Solomon by breaking her arm. Officer Miller was surprised by Ms. Solomon’s injury and immediately summoned medical attention.
The Supreme Court prescribed the proper analysis in excessive force/qualified immunity cases as follows:
Because “police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments — in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving' — about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation,” the reasonableness of the officer’s belief as to the appropriate level of force should be judged from that on-scene perspective. We set out a test that cautioned against the “20/20 vision of hindsight” in favor of deference to the judgment of reasonable officers on the scene....
The qualified immunity inquiry, on the other hand, has a further dimension. The concern of the immunity inquiry is to acknowledge that reasonable mistakes can be made as to the legal constraints on particular police conduct. It is sometimes difficult for an officer to determine how the relevant legal doctrine, here excessive force, will apply to the factual situation the officer confronts. An officer might correctly perceive all of the relevant facts but have a mistaken understanding as to whether a particular amount of force is legal in those circumstances. If the officer’s mistake as to what the law requires is reasonable, however, the officer is entitled to the immunity defense.
Saucier, 533 U.S. at 205, 121 S.Ct. 2151 (citations omitted).
In the instant case the objective facts are that an officer with a heavy build was legally trying to handcuff a person of slighter build who was physically trying not to be handcuffed. The precise amount of force needed to accomplish this without injury in the circumstances of this case is so obviously a difficult determination that the mere fact that injury occurred does not amount to evidence of unreasonable force. At worst it was a reasonable mistake for which qualified immunity is appropriate. As the Supreme Court repeated in Saucier, “not every push or shove, even if it may later seem unnecessary in the peace of a judge’s chambers, violates the Fourth Amendment.” 533 U.S. at 209, 121 S.Ct. 2151.
Because qualified immunity is required in this case under Saucier, I respectfully dissent.