{"id":3270,"date":"2009-12-23T08:40:50","date_gmt":"2009-07-25T22:47:17","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-26T09:07:29","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=3270","title":{"rendered":"CA8: Tasering motorist was not objectively reasonable as a matter of law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plaintiff’s claim she was unreasonably Tasered during a traffic stop survives summary judgment because it was not objectively reasonable as a matter of law. Brown v. City of Golden Valley<\/a>, 574 F.3d 491 (8th Cir. 2009)*:<\/p>\n

Given the circumstances surrounding the Tasering and arrest, we are not convinced that Zarrett’s use of force was objectively reasonable as a matter of law. Sandra’s conduct did not amount to a severe or violent crime. Zarrett suspected that Sandra had committed an open bottle violation, a misdemeanor punishable by not more than ninety days’ imprisonment or a fine of not more than $1,000, or both. Minn. Stat. \u00a7\u00a7 169A.35 (open bottle law); 609.03(3) (punishment when not otherwise fixed). Zarrett contends that the district court failed to consider the seriousness of the crimes of fleeing from an officer in a motor vehicle and driving while intoxicated. Whatever the officers’ suspicions may have been with respect to Richard’s possible intoxication, they had no reason to believe that Sandra had had anything to do with the manner in which Richard had responded to their flashing lights. Accordingly, the district court did not err in determining that the crime at issue was Sandra’s potential violation of Minnesota’s open bottle law.<\/p>\n

Sandra posed at most a minimal safety threat to Zarrett and the other officers and was not actively resisting arrest or attempting to flee. In light of the fact that Zarrett testified that he had ample time in which to come around from the driver’s side of the car to the passenger’s side, there is nothing to indicate that he was faced with the need to make any split-second decisions, nor can the circumstances fairly be described as constituting a “tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving” situation. Graham<\/a>, 490 U.S. at 397. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Posted 7\/26]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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