United States Seventh Circuit

In plaintiff's suit against an officer, claiming that the officer violated his Fourth Amendment rights by using excessive force to remove plaintiff from his car following a car crash, district court's denial of summary judgment to officer claiming qualified immunity is affirmed where: 1) given the extent of plaintiff's injuries and the evidence linking them to defendant's conduct, the district court did not err in concluding that plaintiff's injuries were relevant to determining whether defendant used excessive force; 2) district court did not err in finding a genuine issue of material fact regarding plaintiff's diabetic condition; 3) evidence is sufficient for a jury to conclude that defendant's use of force was excessive; and 4) defendant's conduct, slamming an unresponsive, convulsing driver into the ground with force sufficient to break the driver's hip and place his knee on the driver's back with enough force to bruise his lung, goes beyond the bounds of the plaintiff's clearly established Fourth Amendment rights and thus deprives the defendant of qualified immunity.

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/01/2010
• Decided 08/12/2010
• Published 08/12/2010

Judges

• FLAUM

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel