Background
Frederick Jackson sued the City of Madison and several police officers under Section nineteen eighty-three of the United States Code following an incident on the night of December thirteenth, two thousand and nineteen. Officers responded to a report of gunfire at Jackson’s home, where he was visiting his then-wife. After a multi-hour standoff involving a BearCat armored vehicle and non-lethal foam rounds, officers arrested Jackson, who was later acquitted of criminal charges. Jackson alleged excessive force, failure to intervene, and a warrantless arrest in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.
The court’s reasoning
The Seventh Circuit reviewed the case de novo, viewing facts in the light most favorable to the appellant. The court found that Jackson waived his failure to intervene and property damage claims by failing to develop them with pertinent authority. Regarding the warrantless arrest, the court concluded that while probable cause existed, the law was not clearly established that exigent circumstances dissipated during a multi-hour standoff with a suspect believed to be armed and dangerous. On the excessive force claim, the court determined that existing precedent did not clearly establish that using forty millimeter foam rounds on a non-resisting but intoxicated suspect in a home with potential weapons was unconstitutional.
We therefore affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the defendants on the warrantless arrest claim.
No. 24-2104
What it means going forward
Police officers in the Seventh Circuit are shielded from liability for warrantless arrests and the use of non-lethal force during prolonged standoffs involving intoxicated suspects with suspected weapons, absent clearly established precedent to the contrary.
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