6th Circuit

Gambrel v. Know Co., KY

Submitted by Re'Neisha Stevenson on Wed, 10/26/2022 - 15:51

Initial use of force, striking arrestee in back of head with flashlight or similar blunt object, when arrestee was dangerously carrying his kidnapped daughter down middle of road as cars sped by, did not violate clearly established rights; disputed facts precluded summary judgment on whether officer’s conduct during five-minute struggle with arrestee, including multiple uses of stun gun, repeatedly hitting arrestee with flashlight and baton, and kneeing him in head and face, was reasonable.

Gillispie v. Miami Township, OH

Submitted by Re'Neisha Stevenson on Wed, 10/26/2022 - 15:32

Court lacks jurisdiction over interlocutory appeal of denial of qualified immunity where officer’s argument consisted of disagreements with plaintiff’s facts and district court’s determinations that disputes of facts existed; court notes it is clearly established that introduction of fabricated evidence violates fundamental conceptions of justice which lie at the base of our civil and political institutions.

Gillispie v. Miami Township, OH

Submitted by Re'Neisha Stevenson on Wed, 10/26/2022 - 15:31

Court lacks jurisdiction over interlocutory appeal of denial of qualified immunity where officer’s argument consisted of disagreements with plaintiff’s facts and district court’s determinations that disputes of facts existed; court notes it is clearly established that withholding of exculpatory evidence violates a Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, and clearly established that a plaintiff need not show that the officer acted in bad faith when material exculpatory evidence was lost or destroyed and the evidence’s exculpatory value was apparent.

Gillispie v. Miami Township

Submitted by Re'Neisha Stevenson on Wed, 10/26/2022 - 15:29

Court lacks jurisdiction over interlocutory appeal of denial of qualified immunity where officer’s argument consisted of disagreements with plaintiff’s facts and district court’s determinations that disputes of facts existed; court notes it is clearly established that individuals have a right to be free from malicious prosecution by a defendant who has made, influenced, or participated in the decision to prosecute the plaintiff by, for example, knowingly or recklessly making false statements that are material to the prosecution either in reports or in affidavits filed to secure warrants.

Gillispie v. Miami Township, OH

Submitted by Re'Neisha Stevenson on Wed, 10/26/2022 - 15:25

Court lacks jurisdiction over interlocutory appeal of denial of qualified immunity where officer’s argument consisted of disagreements with plaintiff’s facts and district court’s determinations that disputes of facts existed; court notes it is clearly established that there is a right to be free from identification procedures so unnecessarily suggestive and conducive to irreparable mistaken identification that they violate due process of law.

Gordon v. Bierenga

Submitted by Re'Neisha Stevenson on Wed, 10/26/2022 - 14:12

Critical question in cases involving use of deadly force during vehicular flight is “whether the officer has ‘reason to believe that the [fleeing] car presents an imminent danger’ to ‘officers and members of the public in the area.’”; deadly force is justified against “a driver who objectively appears ready to drive into an officer or bystander with his car; deadly force is generally not justified “once the car moves away, leaving the officer and bystanders in a position of safety[,]” but an officer may “continue to fire at a fleeing vehicle even when no one is in the vehicle’s direct path

Hale v. Boyle Co

Submitted by Re'Neisha Stevenson on Wed, 10/26/2022 - 14:07

Officer had sex and impregnated pretrial detainee; court analyzes case as an excessive force claim, applies objective test per Kingsley, finds genuine dispute of material fact about whether encounters were consensual; there is a rebuttable presumption that sexual conduct between officials and incarcerated persons is not consensual, defendant may rebut presumption by showing that conduct involved no coercive factors, court notes that scaring prisoner, offering to speak favorably to prosecutor, and offering privileges and favors, if proven, would amount to coercion.

Browning v. Edmonson Co., KY

Submitted by Re'Neisha Stevenson on Wed, 10/26/2022 - 13:03

Officer was not entitled to qualified immunity for tasing unconscious passenger of vehicle after crash following high-speed chase, where passenger did not respond to officer’s instruction to show his hands, passenger showed no signs of being conscious, and engaged in no active resistance and officer only suspected that he might have been armed.

Sexton v. Cernuto

Submitted by Re'Neisha Stevenson on Wed, 10/26/2022 - 12:56

Probationer assigned to court-ordered work program was sexually assaulted by program supervisor; court denies qualified immunity to second supervisor who isolated her from other participants to enable assault; restrictions on physical movement and personal liberty under threat of incarceration created special relationship between probationer and program supervisor with duty to protect probationer; right to be free from government actor’s sexual assault (right to personal security and bodily integrity) while participating in court-ordered work program was clearly established.