CA5: Deadly force was reasonable where it was used after the victim raised his knife hand toward officers

The officers’ use of deadly force was reasonable where the evidence confirmed that the victim was holding a knife above his head at the moment the officer fired his weapon, and the officers reasonably feared for their safety at that moment. There was no Fourth Amendment violation because the victim’s former wife consented to the officers’ entry by giving them the keys to the bedroom, in a home that she co-occupied with the victim. Harris v. Serpas, 745 F.3d 767 (5th Cir. 2014):

The relevant law, however, does not require the court to determine whether an officer was in actual, imminent danger of serious injury, but rather, whether “the officer reasonably believe[d] that the suspect pose[d] a threat of serious harm to the officer or to others.” Rockwell, 664 F.3d at 991 (internal quotations and citations omitted). Moreover, “[t]he ‘reasonableness’ of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight.” Graham, 490 U.S. at 396. When looking at the “moment of the threat” that resulted in Officer McGee’s use of deadly force, it is clear from the taser video that Mr. Harris was standing up out of bed and had raised the knife above his head at the time the shots were fired. Accordingly, the district court properly held that under these circumstances, the officers reasonably feared for their safety at the moment of the fatal shooting.