Background
In July of two thousand eighteen, Officer Jon Grubbs chased Jerry Blasingame, a sixty-five-year-old homeless man, who was fleeing after receiving money from a driver. Officer Grubbs tased Mr. Blasingame in the back without warning while he was running down a steep embankment toward a highway. Mr. Blasingame fell, suffered severe injuries including quadriplegia, and later died. A jury awarded one hundred million dollars in damages, but the district court granted judgment as a matter of law against the City and reduced the punitive damages against the officer to one million dollars.
The court’s reasoning
The court held that tasing a suspect from a height creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily harm is equivalent to deadly force. Under Tennessee versus Garner, using deadly force to stop an unarmed suspect fleeing for a non-violent misdemeanor is excessive. The court found the law was clearly established by prior precedent, denying qualified immunity to the officer. Regarding the City, the court found no evidence of a policy or custom of deliberate indifference regarding body-worn camera usage that caused the violation. Finally, the court affirmed the reduction of punitive damages, finding the original award was constitutionally excessive under the guideposts in BMW of North America versus Gore.
We conclude that there was sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could find a Fourth Amendment violation.
Edwards v. Grubbs, 169 F.4th 1261 (11th Cir. 2026)
What it means going forward
Police officers are on notice that using tasers on fleeing suspects from elevated positions where death or serious injury is likely constitutes excessive force. Municipalities cannot be held liable for individual officer misconduct solely based on general failures to enforce body-worn camera policies without evidence of deliberate indifference.