Excessive Force

No qualified immunity for take down maneuver against plaintiff who was verbally criticizing officer.

Jail officers tased prisoner during epileptic seizure, clearly established that use of force, particularly tasing, against restrained and subdued suspect who was not actively resisting due to a medical emergency violates Fourteenth Amendment, case remanded for determination of facts.

Officer who pointed his Taser at a woman and told her to “get back” and to leave the area and go home had seized her within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, through a show of authority that restrained her liberty, despite the fact that she was not arrested or detained and was not told that she was not “free to leave”.

Deploying dog against domestic violence suspect not excessive, where officers warned suspect dog would bite and suspect ran to house where weapons were stored; failure to use tasers did not render use of dog excessive, “Fourth Amendment does not require officers to use the best technique available as long as their method is reasonable under the circumstances”; use of deadly force against suspect after he picked up pistol was not excessive.

Short burst of pepper spray against protestor was not excessive, where officer reasonably believed protestor entered police barricade and rapidly approached officers from behind and put his arms out toward officer’s bicycle, despite fact that video footage depicted plaintiff slowly backing away from officer; evidence insufficient to show that officer retaliated against protestor for speech.

Officer who punched plaintiff, knocking him to ground and hovering over him menacingly, seized plaintiff, although he did not intend to arrest him, because reasonable person would not believe he was free to leave, even if only for a brief period of time.

Corrections officers are not constitutionally obligated to override the judgment of medical professionals unless they have reason to know that an inmate is receiving inadequate treatment, even when inmate is in obvious distress and medical staff has misdiagnosed an inmate or accused him of faking a real illness.

School resource officer used excessive force by grabbing student’s face, slamming him to ground, and twisting his arm, where student was not aggressive, did not pose immediate threat or disobey officer’s commands, was not attempting to flee, and officer was not attempting to arrest student at the time; no qualified immunity.

Excessive force claim not barred by Heck, not inconsistent with conviction for resisting arrest and obstructing officer, based on analysis of elements; factual disputes precluded determination of whether force was excessive; officer entitled to qualified immunity in any event because not clearly established that using takedown maneuver to throw arrestee to ground while she was resisting arrest but did not pose danger to officer or others would violate her rights.