Ramirez v. Knoulton

• Decision Date: 26 August 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-50785.,07-50785.
• Citation: 542 F.3d 124
• Parties: Alfredo RAMIREZ, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John KNOULTON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

542 F.3d 124

Alfredo RAMIREZ, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John KNOULTON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 07-50785.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

August 26, 2008.

Richard L. Ellison (argued), Kerrville, TX, for Ramirez.

William Michael McKamie, John Frank Onion, III (argued), Law Offices of William M. McKamie, P.C., San Antonio, TX, for Knoulton.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Before SMITH and PRADO, Circuit Judges, and LUDLUM^*, District Judge.

PRADO, Circuit Judge:

Defendant-Appellant Kerrville Police Officer John Knoulton ("Knoulton") appeals the district court's denial of summary judgment based on qualified immunity in this excessive force suit brought by Plaintiff-Appellee Alfredo Ramirez, Jr. ("Ramirez"). Because there is no genuine issue of material fact—and because Ramirez failed to allege facts supporting a constitutional violation—we reverse the district court's denial of summary judgment and render judgment in favor of Knoulton.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In early 2005, Ramirez, then age twenty-one, was under investigation for indecency with a child by contact, viz., sexual contact with a thirteen-year-old girl.¹ On the morning of January 18, 2005, Ramirez spoke on the phone with Kerrville Police Detective Steve Sudyka ("Sudyka"), who was investigating the sexual contact charge. A distraught Ramirez told Sudyka that he would not go back to jail, that he had a .22 caliber handgun, and that he would "take care of the problem." Sudyka interpreted this to mean that Ramirez intended to commit suicide, so Sudyka dispatched two patrol cars to Ramirez's home. The uniformed officers who responded were told that Ramirez was suicidal and armed.

The officers, including Knoulton, arrived to find Ramirez walking from his home to his car. Ramirez drove away and the officers followed, with Knoulton driving immediately behind Ramirez. Knoulton's supervisor instructed him to pull Ramirez over. Knoulton activated his patrol car's flashing overhead lights and turned on his vehicle's video camera. Ramirez did not immediately stop. He continued driving under the speed limit, paused at two stop signs, and made two turns before finally stopping on the side of a road. The road where Ramirez stopped did not have houses immediately lining the street, nor was there much traffic; only one civilian car appeared during the incident.

The officers crouched behind their patrol cars with weapons drawn. Knoulton and at least one other officer called to Ramirez, telling him to keep his hands where they could be seen and to reach out through the open window and open the car door. The officers repeated these commands, but Ramirez did not comply. Instead, after sitting in the car for over a minute, Ramirez opened the door from the inside and set his feet on the ground. At this point, the officers saw that Ramirez held something in his right hand, and they yelled more urgently for Ramirez to raise his hands. They also asked what was in his hand.

Ramirez then rose from the car seat and officers ordered him to drop what was in his hand and raise his hands. Ramirez did not comply but swung the car door closed with his right hand, clearly showing that he held a handgun in that hand. Thereafter, Ramirez stood in profile to the officers, with his arms at his sides and the handgun in his right hand, the side of his body opposite from the officers. Ramirez briefly put his hands on his hips, then brought his hands together in front of his waist. As Ramirez's hands came together, Knoulton fired a single round from his AR-15 rifle, hitting Ramirez in the face. Ramirez fell to the ground, landing with his head partially under his car. The radio transmission of "shots fired, man down" went out immediately.

The officers approached cautiously with their weapons trained on Ramirez. He flailed on the ground, and the officers eventually were able to move close enough to move the handgun away and apprehend Ramirez. He was transported to a hospital via helicopter and survived his injuries.

In April 2006, Ramirez filed suit against Knoulton and the City of Kerrville under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging a violation of his Fourth Amendment right to be free from excessive force. The parties consented to proceed before a magistrate judge. On June 15, 2007, the magistrate judge denied Knoulton's summary judgment motion on the basis that a genuine issue of material fact existed on Knoulton's claim of qualified immunity.² Knoulton filed this interlocutory appeal.

II. JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

"The denial of a motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity is immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine `to the extent that it turns on an issue of law.'" Flores v. City of Palacios, 381 F.3d 391, 393 (5th Cir.2004) (quoting Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985)). "Where the district court has denied summary judgment on the ground that material issues of fact exist as to the plaintiff's claims, this court lacks jurisdiction to review the court's determination that a genuine fact issue exists." Freeman v. Gore, 483 F.3d 404, 410 (5th Cir. 2007).

The magistrate judge in this case stated that a genuine issue of material fact exists regarding whether a constitutional violation occurred in this case. However, the parties do not dispute any of the facts underlying Ramirez's claims, which are memorialized by video.³ The only dispute in this case, as the magistrate judge notes, is whether Knoulton acted reasonably in these circumstances. See Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 388, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989) (holding that Fourth Amendment excessive force claims are properly analyzed under an objective reasonableness standard). "[T]he ultimate determination of Fourth Amendment objective reasonableness is a question of law." White v. Balderama, 153 F.3d 237, 241 (5th Cir.1998). Therefore, the only issue is a legal question, and we have jurisdiction to review the district court's denial of summary judgment. "This court reviews de novo the district court's resolution of legal issues on a motion for summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity." Freeman, 483 F.3d at 410.

III. DISCUSSION

"This court applies a two-step analysis to determine whether a defendant is entitled to summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity. First, we determine whether, viewing the summary judgment evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, the defendant violated the plaintiff's constitutional rights." Id. If we find such a violation, "we next consider whether the defendant's actions were objectively unreasonable in light of clearly established law at the time of the conduct in question." Id. at 411.

Substantively, Ramirez alleges that Knoulton used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizure. See Colston v. Barnhart, 130 F.3d 96, 102 (5th Cir. 1997) ("The Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable seizures of the person has been applied in causes of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to impose liability on police officers who use excessive force against citizens."). "To prevail on an excessive force claim, a plaintiff must establish: `(1) injury (2) which resulted directly and only from a use of force that was clearly excessive, and (3) the excessiveness of which was clearly unreasonable.'" Freeman, 483 F.3d at 416 (quoting Tarver v. City of Edna, 410 F.3d 745, 751 (5th Cir.2005)).

There is no dispute that Ramirez suffered an injury. The relevant question in this case is whether the force was "clearly excessive" or "clearly unreasonable." In deciding this question, we must determine whether "the totality of the circumstances justified" the particular use of force. Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1, 9, 105 S.Ct. 1694, 85 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985). "The `reasonableness' of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight." Graham, 490 U.S. at 396, 109 S.Ct. 1865. This is an objective standard "the question is whether the officers' actions are `objectively reasonable' in light of the facts and circumstances confronting them, without regard to their underlying intent or motivation." Id. at 397, 109 S.Ct. 1865. This test "allow[s] for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments—in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving—about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation." Id. The test for reasonableness also must consider "whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and whether he is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight." Id. at 396, 109 S.Ct. 1865.

"Use of deadly force is not unreasonable when an officer would have reason to believe that the suspect poses a threat of serious harm to the officer or others." Mace v. City of Palestine, 333 F.3d 621, 624 (5th Cir.2003). "To gauge the objective reasonableness of the force used by a law enforcement officer, we must balance the amount of force used against the need for force," paying "careful attention to the facts and circumstances of each particular case." Flores, 381 F.3d at 399 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

The magistrate judge concluded that Knoulton's use of force might have been excessive and objectively unreasonable because Ramirez did not raise his weapon, discharge the weapon, or even point it at the officers. The court also noted that Ramirez's car was stopped by the side of the road with no other vehicles, pedestrians, or homes nearby, and therefore, Ramirez was not a threat to others. In addition, the magistrate judge observed that Knoulton summoned a crisis negotiator to the scene, yet shot Ramirez before the negotiator could speak with Ramirez to convince him to...