Roberts v. Spielman, No. 10-13820 (11th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff sued defendant, a deputy with the sheriff's office, under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that the deputy violated her right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. At issue was whether the district court erred in concluding that the deputy was not entitled to qualified immunity because he was acting outside the scope of his discretionary authority. The court held that the deputy's actions were undertaken pursuant to the performance of his duties and were within the scope of his authority. The court also held that, under the particular circumstances of the case, the deputy's conduct did not violate the Fourth Amendment and he was therefore, entitled to qualified immunity. Furthermore, assuming arguendo a constitutional violation, a reasonable officer in the deputy's shoes would not have known that his conduct was unlawful. Plaintiff had no binding precedent that clearly established that probable cause and exigent circumstances immediately evaporated once an officer performing a welfare check for a possibly suicidal person and saw that the person was merely alive. Accordingly, the district court's order denying the deputy's motion for summary judgment was reversed and remanded.
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