PEREZ V. CITY OF FRESNO, No. 22-15546 (9th Cir. 2024)
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The case involves the family of Joseph Perez, who died after law enforcement officers, under the direction of a paramedic, used their body weight to restrain him while he was prone to secure him to a backboard for hospital transport. The family sued the City and County of Fresno, individual law enforcement officers, and the paramedic, alleging violations of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments and municipal liability under Monell v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, finding that the officers and paramedic were entitled to qualified immunity. The court held that at the time of Perez's death in 2017, the law did not clearly establish that the officers' actions would be unconstitutional. The court also found that the paramedic was entitled to qualified immunity because the law did not clearly establish that a paramedic acting in a medical capacity to restrain a person for medical transport could be held liable for a constitutional violation. The court dismissed the plaintiffs' Monell claims, finding insufficient evidence that the City and County were deliberately indifferent to their duty to properly train their officers.
On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision. The court held that the law did not clearly establish, nor was it otherwise obvious, that the officers' actions, directed by medical personnel, would violate Perez's constitutional rights. The court also held that the paramedic was acting in a medical capacity during the incident, and the law did not clearly establish that medical personnel are liable for constitutional torts for actions taken to provide medical care or medical transport. The court concluded that the plaintiffs produced insufficient evidence to support their municipal liability claim against the City and the County based on a failure-to-train theory.
Court Description: Civil Rights/Deadly Force/Qualified Immunity The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment for the City and County of Fresno, individual law- enforcement officers, and a paramedic in an action brought by the family of Joseph Perez, who asphyxiated and died after the officers, at the direction of the paramedic, used their body weight to restrain Perez while he was prone in order to strap him to a backboard for hospital transport.
The panel held that the law-enforcement officers were entitled to qualified immunity. At the time of Perez’s death in 2017, the law did not clearly establish, nor was it * The Honorable Danny J. Boggs, United States Circuit Judge for the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, sitting by designation. otherwise obvious, that the officers’ actions—pressing on a backboard on top of a prone individual being restrained for medical transport, at the direction of a paramedic working to provide medical care—would be unconstitutional.
The panel next held that the paramedic involved was entitled to qualified immunity because the law did not clearly establish at the time that a paramedic acting in a medical capacity to restrain a person in order to secure the person for medical transport could be held liable for a constitutional violation under either the Fourth or Fourteenth Amendment.
Finally, the panel held that the district court properly dismissed plaintiffs’ Monell claims because plaintiffs presented insufficient evidence that the City and the County were deliberately indifferent to their duty to properly train their law-enforcement officers.
Concurring in part and dissenting in part, Judge S.R.
Thomas concurred in the majority’s analysis of the paramedic liability and failure-to-train claims. However, he disagreed with the conclusion that the law governing the conduct of the individual law-enforcement defendants was not clearly established in 2017. Extensive federal case law, departmental guidance, and common sense gave the officers fair warning that applying continuous force to the back of a prone person who claims he cannot breathe is constitutionally excessive.
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