{"id":48072,"date":"2021-04-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=48072"},"modified":"2021-04-11T16:47:01","modified_gmt":"2021-04-11T21:47:01","slug":"ca7-shooting-ptf-after-firing-a-gun-in-the-air-around-a-crowd-of-people-still-entitled-to-qualified-immunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=48072","title":{"rendered":"CA7: Shooting ptf after firing a gun in the air around a crowd of people still entitled to qualified immunity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The defendant officer\u2019s use of deadly force against the armed plaintiff who fired a gun into the air around many people apparently to attempt to break up a scuffle led to him getting shot multiple times in seconds. Someone else picked up the gun and aimed it at the officer who used plaintiff as a human shield until the situation de-escalated. This wasn\u2019t in violation of clearly established law. Lopez v. Sheriff of Cook Cty.<\/a>, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10259 (7th Cir. Apr. 9, 2021)*:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Nothing much good happens after 3:00 a.m. The early morning hours of November 30, 2014 outside the Funky Buddha Lounge on Chicago’s West Side were no different. That morning, upon hearing a gunshot, Officer Michael Raines, an off-duty Cook County correctional officer out celebrating a friend’s birthday, approached the scene of a scuffle between patrons outside the Lounge. Fernando Lopez was present and pulled a gun, firing two shots into the air. Having seen Lopez fire near people on a crowded street, Officer Raines confronted and shot Lopez multiple times in the span of three seconds. Lopez reacted by dropping his gun and scampering toward the sidewalk outside the bar. Just as Raines began to chase after him, Lopez’s friend Mario Orta picked up the dropped gun and fired at Raines\u2014but missed. Officer Raines then used Lopez as a human shield in a standoff with Orta for several minutes until Orta fled. The scene was chaotic and everything happened fast.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Lopez survived and brought a civil rights suit alleging Officer Raines used excessive force against him in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants, concluding that Officer Raines was entitled to qualified immunity because his use of deadly force did not violate clearly established law. We affirm, though not without the same pause expressed by the district court. Our review of the record, including video footage of the events, leaves us with the impression that although the circumstances were volatile, Officer Raines may have been able to avoid any use of lethal force. We cannot conclude, however, that his decision to the contrary violated clearly established law.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The defendant officer\u2019s use of deadly force against the armed plaintiff who fired a gun into the air around many people apparently to attempt to break up a scuffle led to him getting shot multiple times in seconds. Someone else … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excessive-force","category-qualified-immunity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48075,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48072\/revisions\/48075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}