Eravi v. City Commission of Lawrence, Kansas

Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit·Decided May 19, 2026·No. 25-3068·Unpublished

Opinion

FILED

United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT May 19, 2026

Christopher M. Wolpert

Clerk of Court

PHILLIP MICHAEL ERAVI,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v. No. 25-3068 (D.C. No. 5:24-CV-04042-DDC-RES)

CITY COMMISSION OF LAWRENCE, (D. Kan.) KANSAS; MEAGAN SHIPLEY; AUSTIN TWITE; GRANT FOSTER; DAVID MCSHANE,

Defendants - Appellees.

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

Before MATHESON, EID, and CARSON, Circuit Judges.

Lawrence City Police Department (“Lawrence PD”) officers arrested Phillip Michael Eravi while he was filming at the scene of a police standoff with an armed shooter. He sued the arresting officers and their on-scene supervisor under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging First and Fourth Amendment violations. The district

*

This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.

court granted the officers’ motion to dismiss on qualified immunity grounds. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Allegations 1

Plaintiff Eravi is a “well-known citizen journalist,” who regularly observes and records law enforcement at crime scenes. App. at 8. He has a YouTube channel, Lawrence Accountability, “which audits and documents incidents related to the constitutionality of government employee conduct, such as a City of Lawrence staff, County prosecutors, and local law enforcement.” Id. at 15. His reporting is generally critical, focusing on government officials’ alleged corruption and misconduct.

Defendants Austin Twite, Grant Foster, Meagan Shipley, and David McShane were all Lawrence PD officers (collectively “the Officers”) when the alleged events occurred. Several officers on scene were familiar with Mr. Eravi before this incident and fostered “animus and bias” against him. Id. at 22.

1 Because this case is on appeal from the grant of a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), we accept all well-pled factual allegations in the complaint as true and view them in the light most favorable to Mr. Eravi. Truman v. Orem City, 1 F.4th 1227, 1235 (10th Cir. 2021).

Mr. Eravi’s complaint referenced information from Lawrence PD incident reports, screenshots from Mr. Eravi’s own footage, screenshots from Lawrence PD body camera footage, and dialogue excerpts. Although the complaint does not attach these materials, we accept as true Mr. Eravi’s allegations as to their content.

Heatherwood Drive Shooting On May 19, 2023, Lawrence PD “responded to a reported shoot-out between neighbors” on Heatherwood Drive, a street in “a populated residential neighborhood.” Id. at 18. Responding officers learned the shooter had “fired[] several rounds at his neighbor” and “was inside the residence of 1951 Heatherwood Drive, refusing to exit and was armed with a handgun,” and may have “access to an AR-15 type rifle.” Id. at 19. The garage door and the door inside the garage leading into the residence were open. The officers understood “it was paramount that the opened garage door be covered at all times.” Id. Lawrence PD parked an armored vehicle in the driveway and, using a loudspeaker, tried to persuade the shooter to give himself up. A standoff ensued.

An apartment building with a front yard and sidewalk was located directly across the street from the suspected shooter’s residence. Police instructed Heatherwood Drive residents to shelter in place or evacuate the area.

Mr. Eravi’s Arrival on Scene Mr. Eravi arrived on Heatherwood Drive around 1:53 a.m., nearly three hours into the standoff. He approached from the south, walking north on Heatherwood Drive toward the suspect’s house. Lawrence PD had parked marked police cars at street intersections on Heatherwood Drive to “block[] access to the area,” id. at 10, 25, but the cars did not block the sidewalks to pedestrian traffic. “[N]o officers were present to instruct anyone from walking from the Southside Northward.” Id. at 23.

No crime scene tape blocked off the area, no “visible, tangible, perimeter” existed, and nothing “indicated that foot traffic was no[t] permitted.” Id. at 24.

Officers saw Mr. Eravi approaching the scene and filming on his phone.

Officers McShane and Foster walked toward Mr. Eravi, shining their flashlights. The following exchange occurred (image taken from the complaint):

Id. at 32. Mr. Eravi continued walking toward the officers and the suspect’s house.

Officers McShane and Foster met Mr. Eravi on the sidewalk in front of the apartment complex across the street from the suspect’s house and the armored truck. “Mr. Eravi attempted to put distance between himself and the [Officers]” by walking toward the apartment complex and then turning north and walking through the apartment complex’s yard. Id. at 34, 29. He then turned around and began to head back south.

The officers followed Mr. Eravi as he walked, and the following exchange occurred (image taken from the complaint):

Id. at 34-35.

The following image, taken from the complaint, shows Mr. Eravi’s path.

Id. at 28-29. The green line reflects Mr. Eravi’s initial approach. It turns yellow where Officers McShane and Foster shined their flashlights at him. The red dot shows where the Officers met Mr. Eravi in front of the apartment complex. The yellow line then reflects Mr. Eravi’s attempts to “put distance between himself” and the officers, id. at 34, first walking toward the apartment building, then turning north parallel to the apartment complex, and then turning around and walking south. Mr. Eravi was arrested at the start of the red line. 2 Mr. Eravi’s Arrest As Mr. Eravi turned south, Officer McShane informed Officer Shipley and Lieutenant Mark Unruh that Mr. Eravi was behind the armored truck, that he could

2 The complaint does not explain what the rest of the red line represents. The blue line indicates the arrival of a Sherriff’s Office vehicle.

not get Mr. Eravi to move, and that Mr. Eravi “was not listening.” Id. at 34, 37-38. Although still across the street from the suspect’s house, Mr. Eravi was not directly behind the armored truck when Officer McShane spoke with Office Shipley and the Lieutenant. 3 Officer Shipley told Officer McShane that Mr. Eravi “can’t be right behind the armor” and to “just arrest him.” Id. at 38. Lieutenant Unruh, who is not a defendant, instructed Officer McShane to “[g]o ahead and detain him.” Id.

Officers McShane, Foster, and Twite “physically restrained Mr. Eravi,” using techniques “to cause Mr. Eravi pain including body and neck restraints, bending of the wrists and twisting of Mr. Eravi’s fingers.” Id. at 45. Officer McShane eventually told Mr. Eravi he was arrested “for interfering.” Id. at 47.

Incident Reports Officers McShane, Foster, Twite, and several non-defendant officers filed incident reports documenting Mr. Eravi’s arrest. Officer Shipley also “filed a signed and sworn Affidavit” to charge Mr. Eravi with criminal interference in violation of Kan. Stat. Ann. §§ 21-5904(a)(3) and 21-5904(b)(5)(A). App. at 49, 52. 4 Mr. Eravi

3 The above image shows the armored truck in the shooter’s driveway. It further shows that Mr. Eravi was across the street from the armored truck when the Officers confronted him and was in approximately the same position relative to the armored truck when officers arrested him.

Mr. Eravi’s criminal case is still pending. See Dkt., Kansas v. Eravi, 4

No. DG-2023-CR-000525 (Douglas Cnty. Dist. Ct.) (pending as of 5/18/2026).

alleged the Officers’ incident reports and Officer Shipley’s affidavit contained false and misleading information used to justify his arrest and prosecute him.

B. Procedural History

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Eravi v. City Commission of Lawrence, Kansas, (10th Cir. 2026).

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