5th Circuit

Recognizing First Amendment right to publicly film police, but holding that right was not clearly established in 5th Circuit in August 2015.

Officer who had heard “shots fired!” call on his radio, used reasonable force when he shot and killed decedent, who was armed with a gun and running toward onlookers and another officer, and refused to stop and drop gun when ordered to do so by officer.

Mother filed suit over suicide of her son in maximum security facility; mother lacked “prudential standing” to bring survival or wrongful death action under Louisiana law because the existence of a person in a higher class of survivors (here, deceased’s wife and daughter) disables person in lower class of survivors from bringing suit; nonetheless, mother had standing under Article III to bring § 1983 action because a parent may sue over the death of a child, and also because mother was the administrator of her son’s estate; standing in federal court is determined by Article III and does not

Officers applied bodyweight prone restraint which killed mentally ill man who had called police for assistance; department general orders required officers responding to a crisis intervention training situation or “excited delirium” to place the subject upright or on their side after bringing them under control; officer held decedent in prone restraint with his knee pressing on his back for fourteen minutes; court reverses district court’s summary judgment for officers, finding factual disputes about reasonableness of force and whether the force constituted deadly force, noting that taking

Off-duty officers who badly beat plaintiff were acting under color of law when they twice ordered him to stop and not leave the area and plaintiff obeyed because they acted like police and he believed he was not free to leave, and defendants forced plaintiff onto his stomach and put him into a police hold, then called for backup to make plaintiff’s arrest and identified themselves to dispatch as police officers.

Reporter who published stories on Facebook was arrested and detained for violation of a Texas statute that made it a crime to, with intent to obtain a benefit, solicit or receive information from a public servant that the public servant has by means of their office or employment and that has not been made public; offense was based on reporter’s confirming last names of people in stories with a Laredo police officer; arrest infringed on her right to ask questions of public officials; officials were not entitled to qualified immunity on that claim because violation of Constitution was “obviou

In factually complicated case, court affirms summary judgment in favor of officer for arresting passenger in vehicle for failing to produce identification during investigation of possible spray painting of public structure; dissent by Judge Willett.

A citizen does not have standing to challenge policies of the prosecuting authority unless she herself is prosecuted or threatened with prosecution, citing Linda R.S. v. Richard D., 410 U.S. 614 (1973); plaintiff rape victim lacked standing to sue prosecutor who conspired with assistant warden who raped plaintiff to protect assistant warden from investigation and prosecution.

Where other information in affidavit provided probable cause to search, plaintiff had no claim against officer for providing false information in search warrant affidavit.

Court of Appeals has jurisdiction to review Heck issue on interlocutory appeal of qualified immunity; plaintiff’s conviction for refusing to bring vehicle to a stop under circumstances that endanger human life did not bar excessive force claim based on officer’s shooting after plaintiff had stopped and exited his vehicle; factual disputes precluded summary judgment on shooting.