CA9: Violent take down of traffic detainee not resisting could be found excessive; no QI

Qualified immunity is denied officers for excessive force in a violent take down on a passively resisting plaintiff in a traffic stop without there being any exigency justifying it. “Viewing the facts, as we must, in the light most favorable to Rice, we conclude that a reasonable jury could find that Rice engaged in passive resistance and that Morehouse’s and Shaffer’s take-down of Rice involved unconstitutionally excessive force. Furthermore, because the right to be free from ‘the application of non-trivial force for engaging in mere passive resistance’ was clearly established before December 2011, Morehouse and Shaffer are not immune from suit.” Rice v. Morehouse, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 6626 (9th Cir. Mar. 8, 2021).

“Ordinarily, we would be required to decide a case of this posture on the plaintiff’s version of the facts. In this case, however, Plaintiff’s account is based on a blurry surveillance video that depicts little more than two persons engaged in a two-minute-long struggle in the dark beside a busy highway. We must therefore take the facts as told by the only living eyewitness of those critical two minutes—Defendant Martin. On those facts, we affirm the District Court’s decision to grant summary judgment.” Prosper v. Martin, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 6466 (11th Cir. Mar. 5, 2021).*

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