Truong v. Hassan, No. 15-2052 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against a bus driver and the Metropolitan Council after the bus driver kicked plaintiff off the bus for failing to pay the bus fare, allowed passengers to exit the bus and physically remove plaintiff, and accelerated and braked multiple times in an attempt to knock plaintiff off the bus or to scare him away from the front of the bus. Plaintiff alleged that he suffered a bruised thigh, a bruised cheek, and scrapes on both of his hands. The district court granted summary judgment to the bus driver and the Metropolitan Council. Plaintiff appealed the grant of qualified immunity to the bus driver. The court agreed with the district court's application of the intent-to-harm standard, concluding that plaintiff failed to show that the bus driver's actions amounted to substantive due process where it is clear that the bus driver's objective in all of his actions was to remove plaintiff from the bus and to continue driving his route. The bus driver was was not acting in a manner to maliciously or sadistically cause plaintiff physical harm, and the bus driver's actions were related to his legitimate responsibilities of driving the bus. Accordingly, the court concluded that the district court properly granted summary judgment to the bus driver and the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Shepherd, Author, with Beam and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Civil rights. The actions of a municipal bus driver in tossing a non-paying customer off the bus, permitting riders to remove him from the bus's front bumper and striking him with the bus in an attempt to force him out of the way so the bus could proceed were not conscience-shocking and the bus driver was entitled to qualified immunity; the district court did not err in applying the intent-to-harm standard to defendant's conduct as the situation was rapidly evolving, fluid and dangerous, and defendant was forced to balance a variety of factors involving public obligations in making the decision to remove plaintiff from the bus.
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