United States Tenth Circuit

The issuance of a citation, even under threat of jail if not accepted, does not rise to the level of a Fourth Amendment seizure. In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action alleging that defendant-police officer unreasonably seized plaintiff in violation of the Fourth Amendment by issuing him a criminal citation and threatening jail if he declined to sign the citation, denial of summary judgment for the officer on qualified immunity grounds is reversed where the actions of the officer did not constitute a seizure for purposes of the Fourth Amendment.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/27/2007
• Published 03/28/2007

Judges

• GORSUCH, Circuit Judge., Before BRISCOE, EBEL, and GORSUCH, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Jerry A. Walz, Walz and Associates, Cedar Crest, NM, for Defendant-Appellant., Marcel Krzystek, Killmer & Lane, Denver Colorado, (Joseph P. Kennedy, Kennedy & Oliver, Albuquerque, NM, on the brief), for Plaintiff-Appellee.