Donna Chisesi v. Matthew Hunady

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedApril 16, 2024
Docket21-11700
StatusUnpublished

This text of Donna Chisesi v. Matthew Hunady (Donna Chisesi v. Matthew Hunady) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Donna Chisesi v. Matthew Hunady, (11th Cir. 2024).

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 21-11700 Document: 51-1 Date Filed: 04/16/2024 Page: 1 of 18

[DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 21-11700 ____________________

DONNA CHISESI, As Independent Administratrix of the Estate of Jonathon Victor, Deceased, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus MATTHEW HUNADY, Individually and in his official capacity, HUEY HOSS MACK,

Defendants-Appellants,

BALDWIN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE, USCA11 Case: 21-11700 Document: 51-1 Date Filed: 04/16/2024 Page: 2 of 18

2 Opinion of the Court 21-11700

Defendant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama D.C. Docket No. 1:19-cv-00221-C ____________________

Before LAGOA and BRASHER, Circuit Judges, and BOULEE,∗ District Judge. PER CURIAM: This case concerns the shooting death of Jonathan Victor. Officer Matthew Hunady, a deputy with the Baldwin County Sher- iff’s Office, responded to the scene of a single-car accident where the driver—Victor—was behaving erratically. Following a ten-mi- nute stand-off, Officer Hunady shot and killed Victor. Donna Chisesi, the administratrix of Victor’s estate, filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, bringing claims for excessive force and wrongful death against Officer Hunady and for supervisory liability on a fail- ure to train theory against Baldwin County Sheriff Huey Hoss Mack. The district court denied Officer Hunady and Sheriff Mack’s motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds, and this interlocutory appeal followed. After oral argument and

∗ Honorable J. P. Boulee, United States District Judge for the Northern District

of Georgia, sitting by designation. USCA11 Case: 21-11700 Document: 51-1 Date Filed: 04/16/2024 Page: 3 of 18

21-11700 Opinion of the Court 3

careful consideration, we dismiss Officer Hunady’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction and reverse the district court’s denial of qualified im- munity with respect to Sheriff Mack. I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The outcome of cases involving qualified immunity “de- pends very much on the facts of each case.” Brosseau v. Haugen, 543 U.S. 194, 201 (2007). Notably, “[t]he ‘facts’ at the summary judg- ment stage are not necessarily the true, historical facts” because “they may not be what a jury at trial would, or will, determine to be the facts.” Cantu v. City of Dothan, 974 F.3d 1217, 1222 (11th Cir. 2020). “Instead, the facts at this stage are what a reasonable jury could find from the evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party . . . .” Id. Accordingly, we view the record in the most pro-Chisesi light possible while staying within the realm of reason. On May 12, 2017, Victor was involved in a single-vehicle ac- cident on Interstate 10 in Alabama. Volunteer firefighters and par- amedics arrived first to assist Victor. When firefighter Michael To- bias approached Victor, he refused to roll down his window. Through the window, Tobias noticed that Victor’s hands were wrapped in cloth and that they appeared to be bleeding. Tobias also noticed that Victor was acting strangely and aggressively. As a result, Tobias backed away from Victor’s vehicle and called the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office for assistance. Meanwhile, a paramedic also approached Victor’s vehicle. Victor shouted at the paramedic to leave. Significantly, the USCA11 Case: 21-11700 Document: 51-1 Date Filed: 04/16/2024 Page: 4 of 18

4 Opinion of the Court 21-11700

paramedic believed that he saw a weapon in Victor’s lap. Conse- quently, the paramedic and all others on scene retreated, took cover behind a parked vehicle, and waited for law enforcement to arrive. Upon speaking with the 911 operator, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office dispatched to responding officers the following in- formation about Victor: (1) he was approximately 30 years old and had barricaded himself in his vehicle; (2) first responders had seen a weapon on his lap1 and were backing away from him; (3) he was covered in blood and had his arm wrapped; (4) he had jumped in the back of the vehicle and grabbed something, but they could not tell what it was; (5) he was not compliant with instructions; and (6) he was talking to himself. Officer Hunady self-dispatched to the scene of Victor’s sin- gle-vehicle accident. Officer Hunady is a seasoned law enforce- ment officer with approximately twelve years of experience. His initial law enforcement training was twenty-five weeks long, and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office conducts at least four training sessions per year for active officers. The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, however, does not offer specific training programs in these three areas: (1) crisis intervention, (2) de-escalation techniques, and

1 Although the dispatcher for the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office relayed to responding officers that the first responders saw a weapon on Victor’s lap, the 911 operator had only told the dispatcher that they thought they saw a weapon on Victor’s lap. USCA11 Case: 21-11700 Document: 51-1 Date Filed: 04/16/2024 Page: 5 of 18

21-11700 Opinion of the Court 5

(3) engaging with persons who are suicidal or otherwise under acute mental distress. Upon Officer Hunady’s arrival, first responders confirmed to Officer Hunady at least some of the information that he had ini- tially received over dispatch. More specifically, one first responder told Officer Hunady that Victor was wide-eyed, acting irrationally, talking to himself, and possibly armed. With rifle in hand and aimed at Victor’s vehicle, Officer Hunady positioned himself behind a firetruck that was about fif- teen to twenty yards away. For roughly ten minutes, Officer Hunady shouted to Victor that he was with the Sheriff’s Office, that he needed Victor to come out of the vehicle with his hands up, and that the officers were there to help him. Rather than comply with these instructions, Victor moved around in his vehicle. During this time, Officer Hunady could not determine what Victor was doing. After ten minutes, Victor stepped out of the passenger side of his vehicle — the side closest to the officers. The dispute central to this case arose here. When Victor emerged from the vehicle, he was holding his arm at an unusual angle with something wrapped around his hand. Officer Hunady says that Victor took an aggres- sive, shooter’s-type stance, with his arms punched out in front of his chest as if he were aiming a concealed object at the officers. Be- cause of Victor’s posture, Officer Hunady says he believed that Vic- tor was armed with a weapon. Chisesi contests Officer Hunady’s recollection and says that Victor never took a shooter’s-type stance or punched his arms out as if he were holding a gun. Instead, based USCA11 Case: 21-11700 Document: 51-1 Date Filed: 04/16/2024 Page: 6 of 18

6 Opinion of the Court 21-11700

on the video, Chisesi says that Victor was holding his arm because it was injured, and that Victor’s arm was wrapped in cloth because it was bleeding. The district court, upon reviewing video footage of the incident, concluded that a reasonable jury could agree with either party’s version of events. Approximately thirty to forty seconds after exiting his vehi- cle, Victor began slowly to walk up an embankment toward Officer Hunady and other officers, who were behind a firetruck on the in- terstate. Officer Hunady can be heard on video shouting these commands while Victor was moving toward the officers: Drop what’s in your hands. Drop what’s in your hands. Drop it. Drop it. Drop it right now and put your hands up.

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Donna Chisesi v. Matthew Hunady, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/donna-chisesi-v-matthew-hunady-ca11-2024.