Kinney v. Indiana Youth Center

950 F.2d 462, 1991 WL 257367
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedDecember 9, 1991
DocketNo. 91-1473
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 950 F.2d 462 (Kinney v. Indiana Youth Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kinney v. Indiana Youth Center, 950 F.2d 462, 1991 WL 257367 (7th Cir. 1991).

Opinion

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

This is a civil rights action brought by Gregory Neal Kinney, an eighteen-year old inmate who was shot while trying to escape from an Indiana correctional facility where he was confined for a six-year term on charges of escape and car theft. Kinney claimed excessive force was used in thwarting his escape and sued the officer who shot him as well as seven supervisory officials. The district court concluded that [464]*464halting his escape by shooting did not violate the eighth amendment and entered summary judgment for the prison officials. Kinney appeals.

On June 2, 1988, Kinney was an inmate, and Officer Park a guard, at the Indiana Youth Center (IYC) which houses young men convicted of offenses ranging up to murder. It is a secure facility with fences and guard towers manned by armed correctional officers. Officer Park was assigned to Tower Two that day. At around nine o’clock in the morning, while in Tower Two, Officer Park noticed Kinney and another inmate named Billy Nash walk briskly to the first of two closed gates near the tower. She did not know who the inmates were by name but she suspected that they were going to try to escape. She yelled at them, “Boys, what are you doing?,” but the inmates did not respond. They continued to head towards a gate in the first fence, climbed over it, and dropped to the other side. Fifty-two feet away was a gate in the second fence and beyond it no further barrier to their escape. As the two approached the second gate, Officer Park yelled at them again and started to pick up a shotgun. She thought twice about it and put the shotgun down thinking that it was too powerful to use. She grabbed a .22 caliber rifle instead, leaned out of the tower window, and as the inmates reached the top of the second gate, yelled “Halt, or I’ll shoot.” Another guard also yelled at them to stop. Several others heard Officer Park yell, but not Kinney who heard nothing over the noise coming from nearby construction. After Officer Park yelled “Halt, or I’ll shoot,” the inmates paused at the top of the second gate, looked at her and grinned. As Kinney and Nash started to drop from the second gate, Officer Park fired two shots at the inmates. She aimed at the shoulder of one and the leg of the other. Kinney was hit but Nash was not. Both men fell to the ground outside the second gate and neither made another move. Kinney incurred severe injury to his mouth.

Officer Park used the weapon available to her in the tower in order to disable the inmates and prevent their escape. She was concerned about the safety of civilians beyond the perimeter fence. The escape area was near the main entrance to the IYC’s administration building and parking lot and thus both visitors and employees alike were subject to potential danger. Because of the danger posed to others if the inmates succeeded in escaping the institution, Officer Park decided to shoot.

Kinney thereafter filed a complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for the alleged violation of his fourth, fifth, eighth and fourteenth amendment rights arising out of the shooting. He named as defendants Officer Park, the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of the IYC, the Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Corrections, and seven members of the Board of Corrections. Kinney alleged that Officer Park, the only defendant directly involved in the shooting, used excessive force against him. Kinney alleged that the other defendants, all of whom he sued in their individual capacities, negligently trained and supervised Officer Park and pursued an unconstitutional policy regarding the use of deadly force.

The district court dismissed Officer Park for lack of personal jurisdiction. Kinney failed to serve her with the complaint as required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(j), so she never became a party to the case. See Williams v. Leach, 938 F.2d 769, 771-72 (7th Cir.1991). Kinney does not contest this dismissal on appeal.

The district court granted summary judgment for the remaining defendants.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Isreal v. Chovanec
E.D. Wisconsin, 2025
Jeffery v. Sobek
E.D. Wisconsin, 2024
DAVIS v. KIRBY
S.D. Indiana, 2022
Estrada v. Smart
D. Colorado, 2021
John McCottrell v. Marcus White
Seventh Circuit, 2019
Day v. City of Indianapolis
380 F. Supp. 3d 812 (S.D. Indiana, 2019)
Thompson v. City of Indianapolis
208 F. Supp. 3d 968 (S.D. Indiana, 2016)
Dorothea Gravely v. John Madden
142 F.3d 345 (Sixth Circuit, 1998)
Sharp v. Kelsey
918 F. Supp. 1115 (W.D. Michigan, 1996)
Pyka v. Village of Orland Park
906 F. Supp. 1196 (N.D. Illinois, 1995)
James E. Williams v. Larry Skeen
9 F.3d 113 (Seventh Circuit, 1993)
Blanton v. City of Indianapolis, Ind.
830 F. Supp. 1198 (S.D. Indiana, 1993)
Jones v. Village of Villa Park
815 F. Supp. 249 (N.D. Illinois, 1993)
Kinney v. Indiana Youth Center
950 F.2d 462 (Seventh Circuit, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
950 F.2d 462, 1991 WL 257367, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kinney-v-indiana-youth-center-ca7-1991.