Thompson v. Copeland

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment in a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action alleging that a police officer used excessive force. Plaintiff alleged that excessive force was used when the officer pointed a gun at plaintiff's head in the context of a felony arrest after plaintiff had already been searched, was calm and compliant, and was being watched over by a second armed deputy. The panel held that pointing a loaded gun at the suspect's head in these circumstances constituted excessive force under the Fourth Amendment, but that the officers here were entitled to qualified immunity because the law was not clearly established at the time of the traffic stop. View "Thompson v. Copeland" on Justia Law