Edmundson v. Keesler

904 F. Supp. 478, 1995 WL 683234
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. North Carolina
DecidedNovember 2, 1995
DocketNo. 5:94-CV-467-BO(3)
StatusPublished

This text of 904 F. Supp. 478 (Edmundson v. Keesler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edmundson v. Keesler, 904 F. Supp. 478, 1995 WL 683234 (E.D.N.C. 1995).

Opinion

ORDER

TERRENCE WILLIAM BOYLE, District Judge.

This matter is before the undersigned on defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment on the grounds of qualified immunity. The issue is whether defendant officers acted reasonably in using lethal force to serve an arrest warrant on a fleeing suspect. Finding a genuine issue of material fact necessary to the determination of the reasonableness of the officers’ actions, the court denies defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment.

On July 2, 1992, defendant officers Gray-ham Keesler and Daniel Peters traveled to the Franklin Baking Company in Goldsboro, North Carolina to serve an arrest warrant on Ricky Turnage, an employee of Franklin. The warrant authorized the arrest of Turnage for selling 6.8 grams of marijuana five months earlier. When the defendant officers confronted Turnage, he asked if he could finish unloading his delivery truck. The officers acceded to his request. Some twenty to forty minutes later while the officers were conversing with Turnage’s supervisors, Turnage ran out of the warehouse and into the parking lot in which his personal truck was parked. The officers followed. The parties’ accounts of the events in the parking lot differ dramatically. In general terms, defendants argue that Turnage was in the process of running over Officer Keesler when the officers shot Turnage to death. Plaintiffs, on the other hand, allege that neither Keesler nor Peters was in danger of serious bodily harm. The evidence supporting each party’s version is discussed below.

Defendants Keesler, Peters, Morgan, and Hill move for partial summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, arguing that the doctrine of qualified immunity shields them from liability in this ease. In order to grant a motion for summary judgment, the court must determine, in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Under Rule 56, a party may move with or without supporting affidavit. Fed.R.CivJP. 56(a). When a motion is made and supported, the non-moving party must set forth specific facts showing there is a genuine issue for trial in order to avoid summary judgment for the moving party if otherwise appropriate. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e); see Celotex v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In the instant case both parties have submitted affidavits in support of their arguments on the motion for partial summary judgment.

[480]*480A court’s analysis of the underlying facts on a motion for summary judgment on the grounds of qualified immunity should proceed no differently than in any other context. Buonocore v. Harris, 65 F.3d 347, 359 (4th Cir.1995). If a plaintiff has alleged a clearly established right, summary judgment is improper as long as there remains any genuine issue of material fact regarding the actual conduct of the defendants. Id. at 359-60. A genuine issue of material fact exists if a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

In deciding whether an official is entitled to qualified immunity, the court must (1) identify the specific constitutional right allegedly violated, (2) determine whether that right was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation, and (3) determine whether a reasonable person in the official’s position would have known that his conduct would violate that right. Collinson v. Gott, 895 F.2d 994, 998 (4th Cir.1990) (Phillips, J., concurring). The first and second of these inquiries are pure questions of law for the court, but the third, which is also a question of law, may sometimes require factual determinations pertaining to the conduct of a defendant and the attendant circumstances. Id.

Plaintiffs have alleged that defendants deprived Turnage of his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable seizure. Specifically, plaintiffs aver that Officers Keesler and Peters used unconstitutionally excessive and lethal force in their attempt to arrest Turnage. Having identified the specific constitutional right allegedly violated, the court must ascertain whether the right was so clearly established as to put a reasonable defendant on notice that his conduct violated that right. Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3039, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987); Collinson, 895 F.2d at 998. In Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1, 105 S.Ct. 1694, 85 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985), the United States Supreme Court held that the use of deadly force to prevent the escape of an apparently unarmed suspected felon is unconstitutional unless such force “is necessary to prevent escape and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.” Id. at 3, 105 S.Ct. at 1697; see Slattery v. Rizzo, 939 F.2d 213, 216 (4th Cir.1991). Additionally, it is undisputed that Keesler and Peters were aware of this limitation on the use of deadly force from the training they had received as officers. Hill Aff. ¶ 8; Morgan Aff. ¶¶ 3, 4, 8. Thus, the court concludes that reasonable officers would be aware of the general right allegedly violated.

The final determination required of the court is whether a reasonable officer would have known that his conduct violated Turnage’s rights. A police officer should prevail on an assertion of qualified immunity if a reasonable officer possessing the same information could have believed that his conduct was lawful. Anderson, 483 U.S. at 641, 107 S.Ct. at 3039-40. In evaluating the factual context, the reasonableness standard requires a court to focus on the circumstances as they appeared to exist at the time the events were unfolding, affording interpretive latitude to official judgments. Gooden v. Howard County, 954 F.2d 960, 965 (4th Cir.1992); Torchinsky v. Siwinski, 942 F.2d 257, 261 (4th Cir.1991).

Accordingly, if a reasonable officer in the position of Keesler could have found probable cause to believe that Turnage posed a serious threat of personal bodily harm at the time Keesler shot Turnage, then as a matter of law, Keesler is entitled to qualified immunity.

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Related

Tennessee v. Garner
471 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Anderson v. Creighton
483 U.S. 635 (Supreme Court, 1987)
Norman Slattery v. Christopher Rizzo
939 F.2d 213 (Fourth Circuit, 1991)
Buonocore v. Harris
65 F.3d 347 (Fourth Circuit, 1995)
Collinson v. Gott
895 F.2d 994 (Fourth Circuit, 1990)
Torchinsky v. Siwinski
942 F.2d 257 (Fourth Circuit, 1991)
Gooden v. Howard County
954 F.2d 960 (Fourth Circuit, 1992)

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Bluebook (online)
904 F. Supp. 478, 1995 WL 683234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edmundson-v-keesler-nced-1995.