Deadly Force

In an outrageous opinion, court finds officer entitled to summary judgment; deputy sheriff had fired nineteen shots at Bryant’s car during high speed chase and then rammed Bryant’s car after it left the road, second officer Gillem then approached Bryant lying on ground, Bryant put both hands in the air then placed them on his back, Gillem then put his pistol in his left hand, put his knee on Bryant’s back, reached for the suspect’s hands with his right hand, and fired into Gillem’s shoulder with his firearm in his left hand; court relies on declaration by Texas Ranger expert who was not pre

Clearly established that officers may not shoot a secured or incapacitated person”; “established that armed suspects can be secured even before an officer disarms them”; “simply being armed is insufficient to justify deadly force." Sok Kong Trustee for Map Kong v. City of Burnsville, 960 F.3d 985 (8th Cir. 2020) (officers entitled to qualified immunity where suspect was armed with knife and running towards bystanders in busy parking lot and ignored commands to drop knife, although suspect appeared to be under influence of drugs and did not threaten officers.

Clearly established  … that simply being armed is insufficient to justify deadly force.

Affirming denial of summary judgment to officer, court rules that if officer shot suspect while suspect was retreating from his opponent in altercation while holding long gun pointed either at ground or sky, and officer failed to provide warning before shooting, use of deadly force would not be objectively reasonable.

Officers entitled to qualified immunity for shooting suspect who was running toward bystanders with a knife in crowded parking lot, and flow of traffic meant if officers had waited there was a risk of hitting innocent bystanders, officers reasonably believed suspect could kill or seriously injure others.

Officer not liable for shooting where he could not see suspect’s hands but had seen black cylindrical object pressed against his forearm.

Officer entitled to qualified immunity for shooting in the back a fleeing suspect who “raised his right shoulder,” although officer’s partner had already patted suspect down and found no weapon.

Suspect was walking, gun in hand, towards other people and, although he may have put his hands up at some point, he refused to drop the gun when ordered to do so and could have quickly turned it on the officer, thus officer was entitled to qualified immunity.