Johnson v. Rogers, No. 19-1366 (7th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseJohnson showed up drunk for an appointment at a rehab clinic and threatened a therapist and the security guard. Police officers arrested and handcuffed Johnson behind his back. He told them that he would run away; they sat him on the pavement next to a patrol car. Subsequent events were captured on video. Johnson managed to stand. The officers walked him backward and sat him on the grass. They returned to their cars to do paperwork. In about a minute Johnson got to his knees and stood again. He started to move away, shouting threats and racial taunts. Officer Rogers pulled Johnson backward by his cuffed hands. When that did not return him to the ground, Rogers claims he used a leg sweep. Johnson contends that his fall and compound leg fracture resulted from a kick designed to punish him rather than to return him to a sitting position. The grainy video does not enable a viewer to distinguish these possibilities. The district court rejected his suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 on summary judgment. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Rogers is entitled to qualified immunity. Johnson, who had told the officers that he wanted to run away, was not under control. That an attempt to regain control caused injury, perhaps because poorly executed, does not lead to liability. The excessive-force inquiry is objective. If the force used was objectively allowable, the officer’s state of mind cannot make it unconstitutional.
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