PAULETTE SMITH V. EDWARD AGDEPPA, ET AL, No. 20-56254 (9th Cir. 2022)
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A police officer (Officer) in Los Angeles, shot and killed a man during a failed arrest in the men’s locker room of a gym. Before the district court, the Officer maintained that he killed the man because the man was pummeling the Officer’s partner, and the Officer feared the man’s next blow would kill her. The Officer also claimed that he yelled “stop” before shooting, but no such warning can be heard on the officers’ body-cam recordings. The man’s mother sued the Officer for his allegedly unreasonable use of deadly force. The district court denied the Officers’ motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds, and the Officer timely appealed.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order denying, on summary judgment, qualified immunity to the Officer. The court held that the district court properly denied the Officer’s request for qualified immunity for two reasons. First, the district court recognized that a reasonable jury could reject the police officer’s account of the shooting because there were significant discrepancies between their versions of events and other evidence in the record. Second, the court wrote that it has long held that the Fourth Amendment requires officers to warn before using deadly force when practicable. The defense cannot argue that it was not possible for the Officer to give the man a deadly force warning because the Officer’s sworn statements show that he had time to tell Dorsey to “stop.” Therefore, the district court correctly ruled that a jury could decide that the Officer’s use of deadly force violated clearly established law.
Court Description: The panel affirmed the district court’s order denying, on summary judgment, qualified immunity to a police officer in an action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging defendant used unreasonable deadly force when he shot and killed Albert Dorsey during a failed arrest in the men’s locker room of a gym. Before the district court, defendant Officer Agdeppa maintained that he killed Dorsey because Dorsey was pummeling Agdeppa’s partner, and Agdeppa feared Dorsey’s next blow would kill her. Agdeppa also claimed that he yelled “stop” before shooting, but no such warning could be heard on the officers’ body-cam recordings. The district court properly denied Agdeppa’s request for qualified immunity for two reasons. First, the district court recognized that a reasonable jury could reject the police officers’ account of the shooting because there were significant discrepancies between their versions of events * The Honorable Gary Feinerman, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, sitting by designation. SMITH V. AGDEPPA 3 and other evidence in the record. Second, this court has long held that the Fourth Amendment requires officers to warn before using deadly force when practicable. The defense cannot argue that it was not possible for Agdeppa to give Dorsey a deadly force warning because Agdeppa’s sworn statements show that he had time to tell Dorsey to “stop.” The encounter lasted approximately four minutes after the officers first attempted to handcuff Dorsey, and the officers tased Dorsey at least five times during that interval. Agdeppa never claimed that he warned Dorsey that he would switch from using his taser to using his firearm if Dorsey did not submit to being handcuffed, nor did he argue that it was impracticable to do so. The district court correctly ruled that a jury could decide that Agdeppa’s use of deadly force violated clearly established law. Dissenting, Judge Bress stated that the two police officers in this case found themselves in a violent confrontation with a large, combative suspect, who ignored their repeated orders to stop resisting and failed to respond to numerous taser deployments. After the suspect’s assault on the officers intensified and he wrested one of the officers’ tasers into his own hands, one officer shot the suspect to end the aggression. The split-second decision officers made here presented a classic case for qualified immunity. The majority’s decision otherwise was contrary to law and requires officers to hesitate in situations in which decisive action, even if leading to the regrettable loss of human life, can be necessary to protect their own. 4 SMITH V. AGDEPPA
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on May 4, 2023.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on August 30, 2023.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on March 1, 2024.
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