Smith v. City of Minneapolis

• Decision Date: 06 June 2014
• Docket Number: No. 13–1157.,13–1157.
• Citation: 754 F.3d 541
• Parties: Bettie SMITH, as Trustee for the Next–of–Kin of Quincy Deshawn Smith, Plaintiff–Appellant v. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS; Officer Shawn Brandt, (in his individual and official capacity); Officer Chris Humphrey, (in his individual and official capacity); Officer Timothy Devick, (in his individual and official capacity); Officer Carlos Baires Escobar, (in his individual and official capacity); Officer Nicholas McCarthy, (in his individual and official capacity), Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

754 F.3d 541

Bettie SMITH, as Trustee for the Next–of–Kin of Quincy Deshawn Smith, Plaintiff–Appellant

v.CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS; Officer Shawn Brandt, (in his individual and official capacity); Officer Chris Humphrey, (in his individual and official capacity); Officer Timothy Devick, (in his individual and official capacity); Officer Carlos Baires Escobar, (in his individual and official capacity); Officer Nicholas McCarthy, (in his individual and official capacity), Defendants–Appellees.

No. 13–1157.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: Nov. 20, 2013.

Filed: June 6, 2014.

Stephen L. Smith, argued, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellant.

Christopher J. Kuhlman, on the brief, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellant.

Kristin R. Sarff, argued, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellee.

C. Lynn Fundingsland, Sara J. Lathrop, Kristin R. Sarff, on the brief, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellee.

Before RILEY, Chief Judge, MELLOY and KELLY, Circuit Judges.

RILEY, Chief Judge.

Bettie Smith (Ms. Smith), as trustee for the next of kin of her deceased son Quincy Smith (Smith), sued five police officers (officers) and the City of Minneapolis (city), alleging violations of (1) Smith's Fourth Amendment right to be secure against unreasonable seizure, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and (2) the Minnesota wrongful death statute, Minn.Stat. § 573.02. While the officers attempted to arrest Smith, he stopped breathing and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. The district court ¹ granted defendants' motion for summary judgment on all counts. Ms. Smith appeals.² We affirm.

I. BACKGROUNDA. Facts

In the early morning hours of December 9, 2008, city officers responded to a dispatch of a domestic situation involving a weapon, reportedly a rifle, regarding a woman and her ex-boyfriend, later identified as Smith. A 911 caller reported the ex-boyfriend had just been released from jail on a domestic abuse charge involving the same woman and was “getting ready to fight.” Later in the call, the 911 caller stated, “He's standing there, and I don't know if he's getting ready to fight her or not.”

Officer Timothy Devick responded and encountered Smith running outdoors near the 911 caller's home. Officer Devick did not see Smith with a rifle. Officer Devick drew his gun, pointed it at Smith, and ordered Smith to the ground. Smith stopped and turned toward Officer Devick. Smith's hands were in front of his face and his palms were facing out. But Smith did not drop to the ground. Smith was about 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed approximately 315 pounds. Officer Devick approached Smith and used force in an attempt to get Smith to the ground: Officer Devick kicked Smith in the thigh and punched him in the head. Smith resisted and turned to run. Officer Devick grabbed Smith's jacket, but Smith still escaped, tumbling over a wood fence.

Officer Devick pursued Smith. Four other officers, Shawn Brandt, Chris Humphrey, Carlos Escobar, and Nicholas McCarthy, together with Officer Devick eventually caught Smith after Smith had run across an intersection, down a street, between two buildings, farther down the street, and finally up against a chain link fence. Smith continued to resist arrest. During the attempted arrest, Smith repeatedly grabbed the fence in an effort to pull himself up, and the officers used a taser on Smith multiple times, punched him in the head, kneed him in the rib area, struck him in the back with the butt of a shotgun, and lay on top of Smith in their efforts to subdue him. The officers eventually succeeded in using three sets of handcuffs to connect Smith's arms behind his back and rolled Smith over on his side. At this point, Officer Devick noticed Smith was not breathing. Officer Devick rolled Smith onto his back and started chest compressions, and an officer called for an ambulance. Smith died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. During the encounter, none of the officers saw any kind of weapon on Smith, and no weapon was found on his body.

The “case title” of Smith's autopsy report reads, “Cardiorespiratory Arrest Complicating Physical Exertion and Law Enforcement Subdual and Restraint.” The medical examiner who performed Smith's autopsy stated Smith “had a cardio respiratory arrest or a very sudden basically arrest death, which was associated with his own exertion coupled with law enforcement subduing him and restraining him.” “Final Diagnoses” included the following: “[b]lunt force injuries”; “[f]eatures of recent Conducted Energy Device (CED) use”; “[h]ypertensive cardiovascular disease”; and “[o]besity.” The medical examiner considered Smith's death a “homicide,” meaning “death in which others significantly participated in his demise.”

B. Procedural History

Ms. Smith, as trustee for Smith's next of kin, sued (1) the officers in their individual capacities, alleging an unreasonable seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983; (2) the officers in their individual and official capacities for wrongful death under Minn.Stat. § 573.02; and (3) the city for vicarious liability on the wrongful death count, § 573.02.³

The officers and the city moved for summary judgment, arguing the officers' use of force was objectively reasonable, the officers were entitled to qualified immunity on the unreasonable seizure charge, and the officers were entitled to official immunity (meaning the city was entitled to vicarious official immunity) on the wrongful death charge. The district court granted the motion for summary judgment and dismissed with prejudice all counts of the complaint. Ms. Smith timely appealed.

II. DISCUSSIONA. Standard of Review

“The court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. We review de novo a grant of summary judgment, including a “finding of qualified immunity.” Amrine v. Brooks, 522 F.3d 823, 830 (8th Cir.2008). We view “the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Id.⁴

B. Qualified Immunity and Excessive Force

“Qualified immunity shields an officer from suit when [the officer] makes a decision that, even if constitutionally deficient, reasonably misapprehends the law governing the circumstances [the officer] confronted.” Brosseau v. Haugen, 543 U.S. 194, 198, 125 S.Ct. 596, 160 L.Ed.2d 583 (2004) (per curiam). “[G]overnment officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982).

Thus qualified-immunity analysis “involves the following two-step inquiry: (1) whether the facts shown by the plaintiff make out a violation of a constitutional or statutory right, and (2) whether that right was clearly established at the time of the defendant's alleged misconduct.” Mitchell v. Shearrer, 729 F.3d 1070, 1074 (8th Cir.2013) (citing Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001)). “[L]ower courts have discretion to decide which of the two prongs of qualified-immunity analysis to tackle first.” Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. ––––, ––––, 131 S.Ct. 2074, 2080, 179 L.Ed.2d 1149 (2011) (citing Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 236, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009)). We elect to address the “clearly established” qualified-immunity prong at the outset here, because it is dispositive of the case. Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727.

“Although the defendant bears the burden of proof for this affirmative defense [of qualified immunity], the plaintiff must demonstrate that the law was clearly established.” Monroe v. Ark. State Univ., 495 F.3d 591, 594 (8th Cir.2007). “A right is clearly established if its contours are ‘sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.’ ” Mitchell, 729 F.3d at 1076 (quoting Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987)). “We do not require a case directly on point, but existing precedent must have placed the statutory or constitutional question beyond debate.” a l–Kidd, 563 U.S. at ––––, 131 S.Ct. at 2083. We are cautious “not to define clearly established law at a high level of generality.” Id. at ––––, 131 S.Ct. at 2084.

“[A]ll claims that law enforcement officers have used excessive force—deadly or not—in the course of an arrest, investigatory stop, or other ‘seizure’ of a free citizen should be analyzed under the Fourth Amendment and its ‘reasonableness' standard.” Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 395, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989) (emphasis omitted).⁵ “The calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance 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. at 396–97, 109 S.Ct. 1865. In a qualified-immunity analysis,

[b]ecause the focus is on whether the officer had fair notice that [the] conduct was unlawful, reasonableness is judged against the backdrop of the law at the time of the conduct. If the law at that time did not clearly establish that the officer's conduct would violate the Constitution, the officer should not be subject to liability or, indeed, even the burdens of litigation.

Brosseau, 543 U.S. at 198, 125 S.Ct. 596. “ Graham and [Tennessee v.] Garner, [471 U.S. 1, 105 S.Ct. 1694, 85 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985),] following the lead of the Fourth Amendment's text, are cast at a high level of generality.... Of course, in an obvious case, these standards can ‘clearly establish’ the answer, even without a body of relevant case law.” Brosseau, 543 U.S. at 199, 125 S.Ct. 596. But, as here, when a case is not “obvious,” a court must ...