WILL THE SUPREME COURT RE-EVALUATE USE OF FORCE STANDARDS ?
Law
Officer- Created
Jeopardy :
WILL THE SUPREME COURT RE-EVALUATE USE OF FORCE STANDARDS ?
BY CASSIDY L . BACON , ATTORNEY
In October , the US Supreme Court agreed to hear Barnes v . Felix , a case out of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that concerns how to evaluate an excessive force claim under the Fourth Amendment . Should courts consider the reasonableness of an officer ’ s actions only at the time the officer ’ s safety was threatened , or does the totality of the circumstances matter — including any actions the officer took that may have unnecessarily increased the danger they faced ?
The facts in Barnes are as follows : Officer Roberto Felix conducted a traffic stop on Ashtian Barnes . During the stop , Officer Felix stepped onto the car as Barnes attempted to flee . Officer Felix fired several shots into the car as it accelerated . Barnes ’ s family filed a lawsuit , arguing that Officer Felix ’ s action of stepping onto the vehicle created the need to use force , thereby rendering the use of force unreasonable . The Fifth Circuit upheld Officer Felix ’ s use of force as constitutional . In doing so , it applied the “ moment of threat ” doctrine , which asserts that officers are to be judged solely on their perception of danger at the time force is used .
Currently , the Second , Fourth , and Eighth Circuits have all adopted a similar approach , in that they do not take into consideration an officer ’ s tactics or decisions leading up to the use of force . In contrast , the other eight circuits — including the Ninth Circuit , to which Arizona belongs — have rejected the “ moment of threat ” doctrine in favor of a “ totality of the circumstances ” approach , which takes into consideration the officer ’ s actions leading up to the use of force . This latter approach is akin to the “ officer-created jeopardy ” doctrine being advocated by the Plaintiffs in Barnes .
The Supreme Court has not yet resolved this split . In two prior cases , City and County of San Francisco v . Sheehan , 575 U . S . 600 ( 2015 ) and County of Los Angeles v . Mendez , 581 U . S . 420 ( 2017 ) ( which was reviewed in a 2017 Law Enforcer article ), the Court declined to consider whether officer tactics were an appropriate consideration in evaluating the constitutionality of the resulting uses of force .
This case will have important implications for all officers moving forward . Accordingly , we are watching this case closely and will provide an update once a decision is reached .
As always , if you would like to discuss the issues raised in this article or have additional questions , please do not hesitate to contact me by phone at ( 602 ) 248-9107 or email at clbacon @ napierlawfirm . com .
Cassidy L . Bacon ATTORNEY AT LAW ( 602 ) 248-9107 clbacon @ napierlawfirm . com
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