Rokusek v. Jansen, No. 17-3203 (8th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of summary judgment to a state trooper based on qualified immunity in a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action alleging that the trooper used excessive force. The court held that the trooper's use of force was not objectively reasonable under the circumstances. In this case, plaintiff was an unarmed, nonviolent offender who was not actively resisting or fleeing, but the trooper nonetheless lifted plaintiff off the ground and slammed his head into the floor, causing him to lose two teeth. The court held that a reasonable police officer would have known at the time of the incident that throwing a nonviolent, nonthreatening misdemeanant who was not actively resisting face first to the ground was not permissible use of force.
Court Description: Gruender, Author, with Loken and Erickson, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Civil rights. In action alleging defendant State Trooper Jansen used excessive force in effecting plaintiff's arrest, the district court did not err in determining Trooper Jansen was not entitled to summary judgment based on qualified immunity as the force he used was not objectively reasonable; plaintiff was an unarmed, nonviolent offender, was not threatening the trooper or a lab tech and was not actively resisting or fleeing; to pick plaintiff up and slam him head first into the floor, causing him to lose two teeth, was more force than was reasonably necessary; further, a reasonable police officer would have known at the time of the incident that throwing a nonviolent, nonthreatening misdemeanant who was not actively resisting face first to the ground was not permissible use of force. [ August 07, 2018
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