Gordon v. Alexander
| Citation | 198 So.2d 325 |
| Decision Date | 12 April 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 35626,35626 |
| Parties | L. H. GORDON and City of Pahokee, Florida, a municipal corporation, Petitioners, v. Leon ALEXANDER, by his next friend, Jimmie Alexander, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Jones, adams, Paine & Foster and John R. Beranek, West Palm Beach, for petitioners.
Paty, Downey, Lewis & Daves, West Palm Beach, for respondent.
This cause is before us on petition for writ of certiorari to the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, alleging conflict with City of Miami v. Nelson. 1
Plaintiff Alexander, respondent, brought suit to recover damages for personal injuries suffered when arrested by defendant Gordon, police officer of defendant City of Pahokee. Gordon and the City of Pahokee are petitioners herein. The jury returned a verdict of $165,000.00 in favor of the plaintiff. On appeal the District Court 2 found appellants had failed to demonstrate reversible error and affirmed the trial court.
In the nighttime of August 6, 1961, plaintiff, a thirteen year old youth with physical equivalent of an average adult, and one Lendale went to the rear of a store in Pahokee where Lendale broke the glass, unlocked the rear door and entered the building with intent, known to plaintiff, to take merchandise. Officer Gordon received a report of the breaking and entering and called upon a bystander to go with him to the scene. Officer Gordon testified he gave the bystander his pistol and stationed him at the front door of the building. Gordon then proceeded to the rear where he found plaintiff-respondent with his head in the door where the glass has been broken and one foot raised. The officer, not sure whether plaintiff Alexander was entering or leaving the building, called upon him to halt. The plaintiff started to run and the officer made two additional demands that he stop. When plaintiff was some distance away, still running and entering a dark area beyond a stack of intervening boxes, the officer fired his sawed-off shotgun in the general direction of plaintiff's escape route, injuring him severely.
The trial court denied defendant's motion for directed verdict and the jury found for the plaintiff. The decision of the District Court, affirming, conflicts with the Nelson case, supra, wherein on similar facts a directed verdict for the defendant was upheld on appeal. Briefly, in Nelson, plaintiff, a fifteen year old youth, found wandering the streets of Miami at five o'clock a.m., ran when approached by a police cruiser. The defendant police officers had received a report of an attempted breaking and entering in the same vicinity and a description which fitted the plaintiff. Plaintiff was located on a rooftop by police officers and, when they attempted to arrest, he ran and jumped to a separate building at which time the officers shot to prevent escape. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff and on appeal the District Court reversed and remanded with directions to enter judgment for defendants. The court held the police officers had reasonable grounds to believe plaintiff had committed a felony and, having such reasonable grounds, were entitled to use force as was reasonably necessary to effect his capture, even to the extent of killing or wounding.
In the instant case plaintiff insists the officer used excessive force in making the arrest, thus confronting us with the question of whether, under the facts of the record, more force was used than...
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Brown v. City of Clewiston
...necessary to capture him, even to the extent of killing or wounding him."), cert. denied, 194 So.2d 621 (Fla.1966); Gordon v. Alexander, 198 So.2d 325, 327 (Fla.1967) (endorsing Nelson: "We are constrained to hold the officer was justified in his action and did not use unnecessary or excess......
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Brescher v. Pirez
...at 257-58; see also City of Miami v. Nelson, 186 So.2d 535 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 194 So.2d 621 (Fla.1966). In Gordon v. Alexander, 198 So.2d 325 (Fla.1967), our supreme court held that a police officer was entitled to a directed verdict in his favor concerning his use of force agains......
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Brown v. City of Clewiston, 83-8065-Civ.
...a fleeing felon (regardless of the nature of the underlying felony), even to the extent of killing or wounding him. See, Gordon v. Alexander, 198 So.2d 325 (Fla. 1967); Miami v. Nelson, 186 So.2d 535 (Fla. 3d DCA 1966); and City of St. Petersburg v. Reed, 330 So.2d 256 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976). I......
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Chastain v. Civil Service Bd. of Orlando, 74--1387
...or his conduct were the basis of a civil action for damages against him individually or against his employer, as in Gordon v. Alexander, 198 So.2d 325 (Fla.1967) and City of Miami v. Nelson, 186 So.2d 535 (3rd DCA Fla.1966), the standard or test of guilt would be whether appellant, in attem......