TX14: It was clearly established standing on an arrestee’s face was excessive; here, causation for death not shown

“We conclude that controlling authority’ or ‘a robust “consensus of cases of persuasive authority”’ as of September 2010 make it sufficiently clear that every reasonable official would understand (as did those who testified) that stepping on the nose and mouth of someone who is lying on the ground, likely sedated, handcuffed, and described by an eyewitness as generally unresponsive, with enough force that the person’s neck touches the ground, would constitute an excessive-force Fourth Amendment violation under the present circumstances. In September 2010, it was clearly established that comparable uses of gratuitous force against a subdued and restrained detainee was unreasonable. … Appellees’ expert agreed that an officer aware of the law on September 30, 2010, should know that stepping on a restrained person’s face with the amount of force described by Lansdale, when the person is on the ground and not resisting, violates the law.” The causation for death, however, wasn’t shown, and that part of the verdict is reversed. Harris Cty. v. Coats, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 1063 (14th Dist. (Houston) Feb. 6, 2020).*