King v. Taylor

Decision Date19 July 2011
Docket NumberCivil Action No. 10–96–KSF.
Citation803 F.Supp.2d 659
PartiesAllen KING and Bruce King, as Administrators of the Estate of Roger King, Plaintiffs v. Eric TAYLOR, in his individual capacity as a Kentucky State Trooper, Defendant.
CourtU.S. District Court — Eastern District of Kentucky

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Lee Tucker, The Tucker Law Firm, Bainbridge Island, WA, Garry R. Adams, Clay, Frederick, Adams PLC, Hans G. Poppe, The Poppe Law Firm, Louisville, KY, for Plaintiffs.

Christian Matthew Feltner, Morgain M. Sprague, Kentucky State Police Legal Office, Roger G. Wright, Justice & Public Safety Cabinet, Frankfort, KY, for Defendant.

OPINION & ORDER

KARL S. FORESTER, Senior District Judge.

This matter is before the Court upon the motion filed by the Defendant, Kentucky State Police (“KSP”) Trooper Eric Taylor (Trooper Taylor), in his individual capacity, for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure [DE # 31]. This matter is fully briefed and ripe for review.

This case arises out of an encounter between Roger King (King) and various police officers, including Trooper Taylor, on November 25, 2009 in Boyle County, Kentucky, that ended in the fatal shooting of King. The Plaintiffs, Allen King and Bruce King, as Administrators of the Estate of Roger King (Plaintiffs), filed this civil action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging various claims against Trooper Taylor, in both his individual and official capacities, as well as against the Commonwealth of Kentucky d/b/a Kentucky State Police. Plaintiffs previously voluntarily dismissed their claims against the Commonwealth and Trooper Taylor in his official capacity [DE # 9]. Thus, Plaintiffs' claims remain pending only against Trooper Taylor in his individual capacity.

Currently before the Court is Trooper Taylor's motion for summary judgment on Plaintiffs' federal claims for violations of King's constitutional rights and state law claims for wrongful death. In his motion, Trooper Taylor argues that he is entitled to qualified immunity on Plaintiffs' federal claims and is entitled to judgment on Plaintiffs' state law claims pursuant to KRS § 503.085, the doctrine of qualified official immunity, and because King's own criminal conduct was a superseding cause of King's death.

I. Factual Background

On November 25, 2009, the Boyle County Sheriff's office received an emergency protective order (EPO) filed by Linda Deskins against King and an arrest warrant for King on charges of Wanton Endangerment in the 1st Degree (Class D Felony), Terroristic Threatening (Class A Misdemeanor), and Burglary 1st Degree (Class B Felony). The EPO and arrest warrant stated that King had unlawfully entered Deskins' property without permission, attempted to fight with her brother, pointed a gun at Deskins' face and said “I'm going to kill somebody today.”

The task of serving the EPO and arrest warrant on King was assigned to Sheriff's Deputies Jody Adams and Al Isaacs. Deputies Adams and Isaacs spoke with then Sheriff Lee Roy Hardin regarding the EPO and arrest warrant. Sheriff Hardin warned Deputies Adams and Isaacs that King was violent toward law enforcement and that he had seen King the previous week and King seemed to be acting strange and violent toward him. The Deputies were directed to contact the Kentucky State Police for assistance in serving the EPO and arrest warrant. The Deputies were also informed of a previous altercation between King and the Kentucky State Police in which King fired shots at a State Trooper. In addition, Chief Deputy James Wilcher told Deputy Isaacs that he had worked with King for several years at the railroad, that King was violent and owned firearms, and recommended that Deputy Isaacs take someone with him if he went to King's house because when King was drinking, he was capable of just about anything. Deputy Isaacs interpreted this to mean that the Deputies would be going into a very hostile environment.

As directed, Deputy Adams contacted the Kentucky State Police Post 7 dispatch and requested assistance in serving the EPO and arrest warrant on King. Deputy Isaacs also directly contacted Trooper Frank Thornberry, with whom he had previously worked, and informed him that they would be needing assistance from the Kentucky State Police. The Deputies were both put in touch with Trooper Taylor, who was available to assist.

Trooper Thornberry called Trooper Taylor to tell him that the Boyle County Sheriff's Office would be needing his assistance in serving an EPO and arrest warrant. He further told Trooper Taylor about the prior incident between King and the Kentucky State Police in which King had fired shots. Trooper Taylor was subsequently contacted by dispatch and told that he would need to go to Boyle County to help the Sheriff's Office serve a warrant on King. Trooper Taylor told dispatch that Trooper Thornberry had informed him of the previous incident between King and the State Police.

Trooper Taylor then met Deputies Adams, Isaacs, Mike Marshall, Gregg Coffman and Dustin Clem at the Boyle County Sheriff's Office at approximately 6:30 p.m. to discuss and coordinate how King would be served. Deputy Isaacs explained to Trooper Taylor that the allegations in the EPO indicated that persons were in fear for their safety and that he felt the EPO and arrest warrant should be served on King as soon as possible. Deputy Isaacs also told Trooper Taylor it was alleged that King threatened to kill someone. The group also discussed the prior incident between King and the Kentucky State Police in which shots were fired by King. According to Deputy Adams, the group felt that they would be going into a hostile environment, given their knowledge that there had been hostility toward law enforcement in the past.

The group reviewed a map of King's property and developed a general plan to effect service. They planned to approach the house by driving their vehicles with no sirens, strategically place the marked vehicles in front of the house, and illuminate the house with the headlights and spotlights to announce the presence of law enforcement. Deputy Adams would then knock on the front door and serve the EPO and warrant while the other officers, including Trooper Taylor, provided armed cover.

After a brief delay to allow Deputy Isaacs to respond to an unrelated call for assistance, the officers departed for King's property. The officers arrived at King's residence at approximately 9:00 p.m. Following their plan, the officers proceeded up King's driveway and parked their vehicles at various positions around the house. All officers then turned on their headlights, bar lights and spotlights and aimed toward the front of the house to announce the presence of law enforcement. Deputy Adams approached the front door, knocked loudly and announced that he was a Boyle County Sheriff's deputy. While Deputy Adams approached the front door, the other officers provided cover from behind their vehicles.

King did not answer the front door. Deputy Adams then proceeded to the left of the house to a car port with another entrance, while Deputy Isaacs followed. Deputy Adams again knocked on the door and announced he was with the Sheriff's Department, but there was no response. Deputy Isaacs decided to go to the back of the house to investigate, followed by Trooper Taylor providing cover. The officers rounded the corner of the house and continued on to a wooden back porch to the rear of King's residence. From the back of the house, Deputy Isaacs heard noise that sounded like two people talking. There was a set of double-paned glass doors at the top of the porch that provided a line of sight to the interior of the house. Deputy Isaacs looked through the glass and saw a man he assumed was King lying down on a couch with a blanket partially covering him. Deputy Isaacs came away from the doors and motioned to Trooper Taylor. He told Trooper Taylor that he had seen King and that he was going to drop all of his weapons so that King would not perceive a threat and asked Trooper Taylor to provide cover for his safety. Deputy Isaacs approached the doors and moved to the left door, leaving Trooper Taylor to cover him using his line of sight through the right door.

Deputy Isaacs pressed his shoulder against the door pane so that his reflective Boyle County Sheriff's Office patch would be visible through the glass. Deputy Isaacs began knocking loudly on the door and yelling that he was with the Sheriff's department as he further illuminated the interior of the home with his hand-held flashlight. At some point, Deputy Adams joined Deputy Isaacs and Trooper Taylor and took a position between the officers at the center of the doors. Deputy Adams then turned his body so his Boyle County Sheriff's Office patch was turned toward the doors and also knocked on the door, identified the officers as law enforcement and yelled for King to come to the door, calling King by name. In the residence, the television set was on, illuminating the room. Trooper Taylor remained to the right of the deputies, providing cover with his M–16 rifle held at the low ready, or down at a 45–degree angle with no finger placed on the rifle trigger, keeping his eyes focused on King's hands to maintain awareness of any potential threat that King might pose.

The parties dispute what happened next. According to the officers' testimony, the officers then saw King turn toward them, rise to a seated position and look directly at them with an angry expression. King then turned away from the officers, reaching across his body with his right hand toward his left side. King retrieved a large, fully-loaded firearm, a Taurus Judge revolver, from his left side and turned toward the officers, pointing his weapon at them. Trooper Taylor responsively fired his M–16. The M–16 bullet perforated the double-paned glass, shattering the glass so that visibility was completely obscured but remained in the...

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