Joe Guerra v. Frank Bellino

703 F. App'x 312
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided August 8, 2017·No. 15-51252·Unpublished·Cited by 8 cases

Opinions

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING EN BANC

PER CURIAM: *

No judge in active service on this court requested the court be polled in response [314] to the petition for rehearing en banc. The petition is denied. The prior opinion is withdrawn, and this opinion is substituted.

Joe Anthony Guerra and Linda Carranza, for themselves and for their son’s estate, sued former deputy sheriff Frank Bellino under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Bellino moved for summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity, but the district court denied the motion. We REVERSE.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL ' BACKGROUND

At approximately 1:30 a.m. on October 14, 2012, law enforcement received reports from multiple individuals about a young man, later identified as 19-year-old Jose Anthony Guerra, “causing a traffic disruption along Culebra Road” in Bexar County, Texas. Witnesses reported that Guerra, who stood slightly less than six feet tall and weighed 198 pounds, was stumbling, walking through traffic, and wearing pants but no shirt. Based on his behavior, witnesses assumed Guerra was intoxicated. At the time of the incident, Culebra Road was dimly lit, and there was light traffic.

Sergeant Frank Bellino responded to the reports. As he approached the scene, he noticed the motorists in front of him “applying them brakes and moving over to the center turn lane.” He soon spotted Guerra walking toward the east in the westbound lane. Bellino activated his emergency lights “so that traffic would be less likely to strike” Guerra. He then parked his patrol car approximately 25 feet away.

Bellino claims that after he exited his patrol vehicle, Guerra’s conduct became menacing. He described Guerra as “sweating and breathing very heavily,” “flexing his muscles,” and “swinging his arms back and forth aggressively.” Like other witnesses, Bellino believed Guerra was intoxicated. Bellino ordered Guerra to stop walking. Bellino claims he only drew his gun and activated his emergency toner when Guerra refused to comply.

The plaintiffs dispute Bellino’s narrative about the initial encounter. They claim Guerra would not have been threatening; he was smaller than Bellino, who was taller than six feet and weighed 220 pounds. Further, they claim that audio evidence proves Bellino never tried to deescalate the situation but instead exited his vehicle and threatened to shoot almost immediately-

Guerra stopped at the front of the patrol car. Bellino thought Guerra snarled after hearing the officer’s threat to shoot. At that time, Bellino was standing near the rear of the patrol car. Guerra complied with Bellino’s command to place his hands on the hood of the car. Bellino was unable to determine, though, whether “Guerra was holding anything clenched in his fists or whether he had anything dangerous in the pockets of his pants.” Bellino claims that, while he was on the shoulder of the road, he attempted to talk to Guerra. The plaintiffs dispute this claim, arguing that Bellino immediately threatened physical force without any attempt to deescalate.

Bellino continued to point his gun at Guerra while waiting for backup. When Bellino asked his name, Guerra began performing push-ups on the hood of the car and said something like “Call me Union” in what Bellino characterizes as a “demonic voice.” The plaintiffs suggest that he was likely asking Bellino to call his “unit,” referring to his military reserve unit.

By that point, Lewis Meline had started filming the encounter on his cell phone from approximately 15-20 yards away. Me-[315] line and other eyewitnesses contest Belli-no’s account of the altercation. Meline, for example, claims that Guerra was “pretty far on the car with his fingers spread” and “had his legs spread quite a bit,” A couple that drove past the scene claims that Guerra “had his hands surrendered on the car.” Meline believed that Guerra was either too exhausted or intoxicated to comply with Bellino’s commands. Meline also heard Bellino threaten Guerra by saying, “Don’t make me do it,” or “You’re going to make me do it.”

Both parties concede, and the eyewitness video shows, that Guerra moved rapidly in Bellino’s direction approximately one minute after Meline began filming. As Guerra approached him, Bellino claims he ordered Guerra to stop and took a few steps back. Guerra ignored the command and lowered his head while still moving towards Bellino. One eyewitness testified that Guerra may have been running at an angle slightly away from Bellino while “trying to run past him.” In any event, Bellino began shooting less than a second after Guerra began moving and stopped shooting less than two seconds later. Belli-no fired three shots in total, fatally wounding Guerra. No weapons were found on Guerra or in his vicinity. Photographs show blood from Guerra’s wounds directly behind Bellino’s patrol car.

An autopsy was performed the next day. It confirmed that Guerra had been shot once in his head, once in the right side of his chest, and once in his left anterior thigh. Two of the bullets entered his body at a steeply downward angle; the bullet that struck Guerra’s left thigh traveled at an upward angle. The medical examiner’s report found “[n]o evidence of close range firing.” The autopsy’s toxicology report determined Guerra’s blood-alcohol level was .284 at the time of his death.

Joe Anthony Guerra and Linda Carranza sued individually and on behalf of their son’s estate, alleging Fourth Amendment violations under Section 1983. Specifically, they claim that Bellino violated Guerra’s right to be free from an unreasonable search and seizure and from the use of excessive force. Bellino moved for summary judgment on grounds that no constitutional violation had been alleged and that he was entitled to qualified immunity. The district court denied the motion in part, finding that Bellino was not entitled to qualified immunity. The district court identified three genuine issues of material fact in denying Bellino’s motion: (1) whether Guerra attempted to rush Bellino or attempted to flee; (2) whether Guerra was cooperative or posed a threat of serious physical harm to Bellino prior to the shooting; and (3) whether Bellino’s statement following the incident was credible. Bellino timely noticed this interlocutory appeal.

DISCUSSION

Generally, the denial of a motion for summary judgment is not appealable, but a denial “based upon qualified immunity is a collateral order capable of immediate review.” Kinney v. Weaver, 367 F.3d 337, 346 (5th Cir. 2004) (en banc). These orders are only immediately appealable, though, “to the extent that the district court’s order turns on an issue of law.” Brown v. Strain, 663 F.3d 245, 248 (5th Cir. 2011).

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Joe Guerra v. Frank Bellino, 703 F. App'x 312 (5th Cir. 2017).

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