Tallman v. Elizabethtown Police Department

167 F. App'x 459
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 23, 2006
Docket04-5723
StatusUnpublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 167 F. App'x 459 (Tallman v. Elizabethtown Police Department) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tallman v. Elizabethtown Police Department, 167 F. App'x 459 (6th Cir. 2006).

Opinions

JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge.

The estate of Harold Lee, Jr., who was accidentally shot and killed following a high-speed police chase, brought a civil rights action against the Elizabethtown Police Department and Officer William Bland in his official and personal capacities. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants-appellees, and the estate appealed. For the following reasons, we affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants-appellees.

I.

On July 3, 2001, Lee asked Randall Babb to drive him from Owensboro, Kentucky to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Lee was initially driving Babb’s vehicle, but Lee became agitated after getting lost and Babb took over the driving. At some point after the men entered the Elizabeth-town city limits, Officer William Bland of the Elizabethtown Police Department attempted to stop Babb’s vehicle for a traffic violation. The vehicle drove away at a high rate of speed as Bland was approaching Babb’s vehicle on foot.1 A high-speed chase2 of the vehicle lasted for eight minutes until the tires of the vehicle struck “stingers” which had been placed in its [461]*461path by the Kentucky state police.3 Once the vehicle was stopped, Babb exited the vehicle and began to run away from the scene.

Bland stopped his vehicle parallel to Babb’s vehicle. Lee remained in the passenger’s seat of Babb’s vehicle after Babb exited the vehicle and fled from the scene on foot. Bland rapidly exited his patrol car and approached the passenger side of Babb’s vehicle with his gun drawn and pointed at Lee. Bland did not know whether or not Lee was armed because Lee’s arms and hands were not visible to Bland. Bland gave Lee a verbal command,4 but Lee did not respond to the command nor did he take any actions indicating that he intended to surrender to the police. Lee was sitting motionless in Babb’s car. Bland reached through the passenger side window with one arm while still holding his gun pointed at Lee with the other arm.5 As he was reaching through the window, Bland’s gun discharged, killing Lee and severing part of Bland’s hand.6 The incident occurred in a matter of a few seconds.

Basing jurisdiction on 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Lee’s estate and Tina Clark, the mother of Lee’s two minor children, filed suit on June 26, 2002, against Bland in his official and personal capacities and the Elizabeth-town Police Department asserting that the shooting violated Lee’s federal constitutional rights and Kentucky constitutional rights. The complaint was amended twice to assert causes of action based on various state laws, none of which are at issue in this appeal.

The appellees filed a motion for summary judgment on January 12, 2004. The district court issued a memorandum opinion granting the appellees’ motion for summary judgment on May 24, 2004. A timely notice of appeal was filed on June 15, 2004.

II.

A district court’s grant of summary judgment is reviewed de novo. Little v. BP Exploration & Oil Co., 265 F.3d 357, 361 (6th Cir.2001). The court must “view the evidence and draw all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.” Id. Summary judgment is appropriate if “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c). For a dispute to be genuine, the evidence must be such that “a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). For the fact to be material, it must relate to a disputed matter that “might affect the outcome of the suit.” Id. Whether qualified immunity applies is a question of law reviewed de novo. Flint v. Ky. Dep’t of Corr., 270 F.3d 340, 346 (6th Cir.2001).

[462]*462Qualified immunity protects government officials from civil liability for actions taken within their official discretion insofar as these actions do not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable official would have been aware. See Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). It is not merely a defense to liability; rather, when applicable, qualified immunity protects government officials from lawsuits and, hence, the burdens of litigation. See Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 200-01, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). To assert qualified immunity, an official must first demonstrate that she acted within her discretionary authority. See Gardenhire v. Schubert, 205 F.3d 303, 311 (6th Cir.2000). Once the official makes this showing, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to prove that the officer violated a right so clearly established that any reasonable official in her position would have understood it was unlawful to engage in the conduct that violated the right. Id. In the present case, there is no dispute that Bland was acting within his authority as a state official, so the burden shifts to the appellants to overcome the qualified immunity defense.

The court’s initial inquiry is whether the facts, “taken in the light most favorable to the party asserting the injury,” establish that the officer’s conduct violated a constitutional right. Saucier, 533 U.S. at 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151. If so, the court then considers whether the right that was violated was clearly established in “light of the specific context of the case, not as a broad general proposition.” Id. The operative question “is whether it would be clear to a reasonable officer that his conduct was unlawful in the situation he confronted.” Id. at 202, 121 S.Ct. 2151. “If the law did not put the officer on notice that his conduct would be clearly unlawful, summary judgment based on qualified immunity is appropriate.” Id.

In order to determine whether Bland is entitled to qualified immunity, we must first determine whether Lee’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated. Because the Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable seizures, excessive force claims are analyzed using the Fourth Amendment “reasonableness” standard. Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 395, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989). “In addressing an excessive force claim brought under § 1983, analysis begins by identifying the specific constitutional right allegedly infringed by the challenged application of force.” Id. at 394, 109 S.Ct. 1865. In the instant case there is no dispute that Lee was seized within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.7 The remaining issue is whether or not Bland’s actions were reasonable under the circumstances.

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Bluebook (online)
167 F. App'x 459, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tallman-v-elizabethtown-police-department-ca6-2006.