Stephens v. DeGiovanni, No. 15-10206 (11th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against Broward Deputy Sheriff Nick DeGiovanni, alleging claims of false arrest and excessive force. The district court granted summary judgment to the sheriff. The court concluded that the district judge correctly granted summary judgment to Deputy DeGiovanni on the false arrest claim where plaintiff's nolo contendere plea established probable cause for his arrest. The court concluded that the injuries plaintiff sustained during his arrest for failing to have a driver's license was not deminimis. Rather, the record demonstrated that plaintiff sustained medically documented severe, permanent injuries from Deputy DeGiovanni's unprovoked and completely unnecessary frontal-body blows to plaintiff's chest and throwing him against the car-door jamb in the course of arresting him. In this case, plaintiff was cooperating with officers and not resisting whatsoever, not even raising his voice. Applying the obvious-clarity method analysis, the court concluded that no particularized preexisting case law was necessary for it to be clearly established that what Deputy DeGiovanni did violated plaintiff's constitutional right to be free from the excessive use of force in his arrest. Therefore, the court vacated as to that claim and also vacated the district judge's dismissal without prejudice of plaintiff's state law assault and battery claim. The court remanded for further proceedings.
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