Merricks v. Adkisson, No. 14-12801 (11th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed suit against defendant, a law enforcement officer, under 42 U.S.C. 1983 for injuries she suffered from his alleged use of excessive force during a traffic stop and search of her car. The court concluded that no clearly established law put defendant on notice that his conduct in stopping plaintiff and searching her car violated her constitutional rights. In this case, defendant had probable cause to stop and to search plaintiff’s vehicle; not only did she refuse to let him search it, she struggled with him to keep him from searching it by stopping him from taking her keys to turn off her car; the only force that defendant applied that she complained about was two yanks to get her out of the driver’s seat; he never applied any other force; and he did not even handcuff her. Therefore, defendant is entitled to qualified immunity, and the court reversed the district court’s denial of his motion for summary judgment.
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