6th Circuit

Factual dispute prevented summary judgment; if subject was standing 30 feet from officer and took only a single step toward officer, jury could find he did not pose an imminent and serious risk when officer fired, despite fact that subject had robbed a pharmacy, unsheathed a knife when officers confronted him, disregarded commands to drop it, and told officer to shoot him; under those facts, right to be free from deadly force was clearly established and officer not entitled to qualified immunity.

State inmate who suffered from severe mental health conditions had intercourse with another inmate which she stated was not consensual and was impregnated; claim subject to 8th amendment, not 14th amendment standard; deputies not deliberately indifferent and thus not liable for deputy’s leaving co-ed housing unit for inmates suffering from mental health conditions to use restroom; county not liable for failure to prevent sexual encounter, no authority for proposition that it violated 8th amendment not to house men and women separately.

Plaintiff posted a mock police department page on Facebook and was arrested under a state law that makes it illegal to use a computer to disrupt or impair police functions, indicted by a grand jury, and acquitted after a jury trial; plaintiff had deleted comments on the page that indicated it was fake and copied the department’s warning on its own page word for word; court says whether officers had probable cause was a difficult question, but lack of previous case afford the officers qualified immunity on First Amendment retaliation claim; court holds that officers’ televised announcement o

Dispute of facts foreclosed qualified immunity on excessive force claim; clearly established that using takedown maneuver to subdue a generally compliant intoxicated person constitutes excessive force.

Correction officers did not violate rights of pretrial detainee, who had gastrointestinal health issues from earlier gastric bypass surgery and had been placed on a specialized diet and prescribed antacids, for failing to call 911 in response to her initial complaints of abdominal pain, although she was scheduled to meet with doctor the next day, and when she did, he sent her to a hospital where she had surgery for a perforated ulcer; citing previous decision in Browner v. Scott Co., 14 F.4th 585 (6th Cir.

If plaintiff was not actively resisting the police, officer violated clearly established rights by taking her to the ground with enough force to break bones and then pinning her there, even if plaintiff touched officer’s arm and raised her other hand, holding a cell phone, near officer’s head.

When officers are called for wellness checks or other non-criminal calls, this Court looks at what the officer learned and observed about the situation before the officer even engaged with anyone on the scene;” in this case officer’s asserted belief that he was arriving at a volatile scene was not supported; “even if the person’s hands are not visible—and even if he appears to be suspiciously reaching for something in his clothing—these facts would not lead a reasonable officer to believe that the person posed an immediate threat of serious harm;” where decedent was not acting aggressively

Officer could not tase mentally disturbed subject “for refusing to stop and show his hands unless he had some other reason to fear for his safety,” “mere failure to follow orders would not lead a reasonable officer to believe that [the subject] posed a danger;” if subject fell to ground for some minutes after two applications of taser, then third taser application could not be justified; reversing qualified immunity for officer.

Scott v. Harris does not require court, on the basis of largely consistent story from police and other bystanders that justified police shooting, to disregard deposition testimony of bystander that he initially lied to police during investigation and truth was that officers brutally beat decedent even though he did not resist, that they could easily have handcuffed him, and deadly force was not required; factual issues were for a jury and qualified immunity should have been denied with respect to use of deadly force.

Officers were not entitled to qualified immunity for escorting patron at country fair off premises because he was spewing profanities about police and wearing shirt stating, “Fuck the Police,” which was protected speech; factual issues precluded summary judgment on claim that plaintiff’s arrest for disorderly conduct was in retaliation for protected speech.