Flournoy v. City of Chicago, No. 14-3776 (7th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseChicago police learned from an informant that Anthony was selling crack cocaine from his apartment and answered the door carrying a handgun during drug transactions. They obtained a search warrant. The SWAT team executed a “High Risk Warrant Services” form. The plan called for a team of 20 officers to effect a “dynamic entry” to secure the premises within 30 seconds and authorized the use of “flashbang” grenades. The team executed the warrant while Flournoy was visiting her son “Tony,” with his girlfriend and another of Flournoy’s sons. An officer knocked on the door and yelled, “Chicago police, search warrant!” When no one answered after several seconds, officers breached the door with a battering ram and cleared the windows. Officer Colbenson saw Flournoy move toward the door. Officer Quinn looked through the doorway, did not see anyone, and tossed a flashbang inside. The blast severely wounded Flournoy’s leg. Officers administered first aid until Flournoy was transported. A search uncovered narcotics and a loaded handgun. In Flournoy’s suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, the jury ruled in favor of the defendants. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The jury’s verdict was supported by the record; the exclusion of a handwritten notation--two flashbangs deployed––on one of Colbenson’s typed reports was not an abuse of discretion. A jury statement that “While we agree that this was a horrible instance ... the errors made by the Chicago Police Department as a whole cannot fall on the shoulders of these two defendants” was consistent with the verdict.
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