Court Opinion

ID: 9496579
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:30:05.758635+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:39.867173
License: Public Domain

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I join fully in Judge Fletcher’s opinion for the court, on the understanding that officers may not use deadly force against an otherwise nondangerous felony suspect simply because a chase of that suspect, high-speed or otherwise, would become or does become dangerous. Rather, as I understand the controlling law, if a high-speed chase of a nondangerous felony suspect would be, or becomes, dangerous, the officers must terminate the chase. In other words, the chase itself cannot create the danger that justifies shooting a suspect who, under Gamer, may not otherwise be shot. I do not understand the out-of-eir-cuit cases discussed in Judge Fletcher’s excellent opinion and in the dissent to hold otherwise.