Defendants were entitled to qualified immunity for death of jail inmate due to acute asthma exacerbation and drug withdrawal where decedent was conscious, able to communicate and told officers he did not want medical assistance, although decedent vomited, defecated on himself, and displayed “seizure-like” movement.
Rejecting claim that officers created situation that ultimately led to subject’s death by failing to make a plan for the encounter, failing to secure knife block in kitchen, and questioning subject aggressively, provoking his violent resistance; such actions did not violate Fourth Amendment and did not render officers’ subsequent use of force unreasonable; court distinguishes earlier cases where officer’s unreasonable actions created situation where deadly force became essentially inevitable.
Officer not entitled to summary judgment on use of deadly force without warning where decedent was arrested for minor offense and jury could find decedent posed no threat of serious physical harm or death to officers; resisting arrest alone is not enough to justify use of deadly force; assuming facts in light favorable to plaintiff, shooting decedent without warning who was being arrested for minor offense after he struggled with officers and grabbed at taser to avoid repeated stunning, but never gained control of it, was “‘so obviously at the very core of what the Fourth Amendment prohibit
There is no constitutional right to be free from abuse of process.