Shooting at plaintiff during a scuffle and arrest was not excessive force under the circumstances

In an excessive force claim, an officer’s pointing a gun and shooting (without hitting) was not excessive force under all the circumstances because of the risk of violence by the plaintiff. Hendricks v. Governor’s Taskforce for Marijuana Eradication, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16322 (E.D. Tenn. March 7, 2007):

Considering the totality of the circumstances, the Court does not believe that the force used against plaintiff by defendants Poore and Rodriguez was unreasonable. As noted by the Government Task Force defendants in their brief in support of their motion for summary judgment, the Supreme Court has held that it is not unconstitutionally unreasonable for a law enforcement officer to use deadly force where that officer has probable cause to believe that a suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or to others. Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1, 11 (1985). Even viewing all of the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiff, defendant Rodriguez did not act unreasonably in using deadly force against him. Given that plaintiff had fired four shots in the air and brandished a .22-caliber rifle for the express purpose of “wanting to let them know that I was also armed,” [Doc. 1 at 5], both defendants Poore and Rodriguez had probable cause to believe that plaintiff posed a threat of serious physical harm to them. As they admit in their brief in support of their motion for summary judgment, defendants Poore and Rodriguez “reasonably believed that plaintiff would shoot at them again.” [Doc. 42 at 9.] All of the evidence suggests that defendant Rodriguez shot at plaintiff out of self-defense. See Garner, 471 U.S. at 11. Thus, because defendant Rodriguez’s actions were motivated by a concern for protecting and preserving his own life and that of his fellow officers, the shot he fired at plaintiff was not unreasonable. Sargent v. City of Toledo Police Dept., 150 Fed. Appx. 470, 475 (6th Cir. 2005).

Petitioner’s defense counsel was not ineffective for not filing a suppression motion that would have lost. Brown v. United States, 219 Fed. Appx. 917 (11th Cir. 2007)* (unpublished).

Defendant’s stop and patdown was with reasonable suspicion where he was walking through a muddy lot with his hands in his pockets and continually looking back at a police car. He went up onto a porch and “odd[ly] pantomime[d]” knocking on the door. United States v. Harris, 218 Fed. Appx. 916 (7th Cir. 2007).*

In a § 1983 case challenging a drug stop, “[d]efendants’ contention that they acted reasonably under the circumstances goes uncontradicted” in the summary judgment papers so plaintiff loses. Lee v. Matthews, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16343 (E.D. Mich. March 8, 2007).*

Officers surveilled defendant from Chicago into Indiana where he dropped off a duffle bag and returned to Chicago, and the officers, based on experience, thought it was a drug deal. He was stopped back in Chicago, and he validly consented to a search of his backpack at his home. United States v. Dang, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16642 (N.D. Ill. March 7, 2007).*